


Faustian Contract

by GintaxAlvissforever



Series: Super Smash Post Galaxy: Slavic Arc [2]
Category: Disgaea (Games), Queen's Blade, Super Smash Brothers, Xenoblade Chronicles, 光神話 | Kid Icarus (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Belligerent Sexual Tension, Blackmail, Crossover Pairings, Deal with a Devil, Demon Contract, Demon Sex, Demons, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Hypnotism, Implied Relationships, Implied Slash, Kidnapping, M/M, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Other, Slavic Mythology - Freeform, Soul Stealing, Suggestive Themes, Suspense, Tentacle Rape, Tentacles, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Vore, race against the clock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-03-25 12:11:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3809941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GintaxAlvissforever/pseuds/GintaxAlvissforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dunban was a child, he made a pact with a beautiful demon who would eventually drag his soul to hell when the pact was finished. The contract had been way overdue and only now does she appear and drag his soul to hell. There is only 4 hours before Dunban is officially declared dead. Not wanting Dunban to die, Shulk joins with Pit, Riki and Magnus to save his father figure. The region of hell is different from usual forcing Pit to recruit a demon under someone he would rather not talk to in order to guide the Smashers through Nav to save Dunban before his soul is eaten or worse...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Hour (Literal Time Waster)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arizonia1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arizonia1/gifts).



> Well, I really wanted to do a Magnus/Dunban fic. Normally, I'm helping Aria push the pairing in her fics to the point that it's a thing now instead of writing them myself and this will be my first attempt while putting this in a new category called The Slavic Arc on Archive. Enjoy!
> 
> For further reference: "Faustian (adj.): of, relating to, resembling, or ... made or done for present gain without regard for future cost or consequences"

Everyone had their off days…and this was probably the worse of the bunch for the majority of the Smashers.

Outside of Smash Brothers Mansion, a few Smashers particularly Pit, Shulk and Palutena were waiting outside the gate. Joining them were the two assist trophies Magnus and Riki. There were other Smashers waiting with them too particularly Dark Pit, Lucina, the Robin twins and Rosalina. Viridi and Phosphora were also lingering next to Palutena. A few of the Smashers who had rooms in the front of the mansion could be seen peeking out the window. Master and Crazy Hand were nowhere to be seen, but it was better this way. Palutena didn't want them to know how much she might have screwed up indirectly that could seriously get her in trouble.

Shulk was pacing around restlessly despite Riki telling his Homs friend to calm down. The blond didn't respond but refused to take the little Heropon's advice. Rob wondered if he should speak to the Monado boy, but ended up supporting the light angel with his healing magic. Pit had no idea that Rob had medical skills, but Robin admitted that he probably switched his class more than she did back in their world. This benefitted the angel who had just received a serious beatdown when he attempted to storm the Underworld alone with just Palutena guiding his Power of Flight.

Pit did not want to think about how he wasted an entire hour on an impossible rescue mission. Hades might as well have said, "Your damsel is in another Underworld!" Of course, Hades wasn't the guy who would tell Pit straight out that the person he was trying to save wasn't even in that Underworld.

The angel groaned remembering how awful it was to go to the Underworld and how the Power of Flight was wasted as a result.

* * *

_Pit's only reason for entering the Underworld in the first place was a sudden attack from the Underworld. Hades may have been defeated and he might have settled down in the sense of recruiting allies and restoring himself to his former glory, but apparently ambushes were still a thing even if Master Hand had made it clear that any affairs that Palutena and Viridi had would need to be settled in their world._

_The target should have been the angels or the Goddesses that stayed in the mansion. The demon hand that came out of nowhere wasn't interested in them. In fact, the demon hand crept into the assist trophy section where it was searching for the rooms where Smashers technically not classified as assists were. The hand only wanted one Homs soul. That soul surprisingly was Dunban._

_He was caught off guard. According to Riki, the hand ripped Dunban's soul from his body and fled into the darkness. If Palutena listened to Rosalina's advice to wait until more information came up, they probably would have realized sooner that Hades honestly had nothing to do with this and the kidnapper was a foreign deity from another realm._

_They would not find that out later until Pit ventured into the Underworld without hesitation. He may not have liked the Homs in Smash Brothers Mansion, but if they got into the angel versus demon affairs that have been going on, then he had the duty to rescue him._

_The Underworld had changed in such a short amount of time from when Pit previously fought the Lord of the Underworld. The normally red sky was more of a purple color. It was almost calming in a sense. The Underworld army overall appeared to be less hostile than normal. As a result, unless they shot at the white angel or if they crashed into him, Pit did not shoot his arrow. Instead he would wait to focus his energy on Hades who was the main culprit in his mind._

_Suffice to say, to see Hades in the open loafing around was something Pit should not have been surprised with. Palutena noted that he seemed to be waiting for someone, but who could he be waiting for when he was his big colossus self in the Underworld. He could also be heard projecting his voice to his minions that were probably nearby._

_"Days, dear! How is that weapon going?"_

_Pit flinched at the nickname used for someone that he loathed to this day (but was only recently starting to get over his traumatic past)._

_"Hades…leave me alone. I'm trying to play chess here."_

_"Oh, you're going to win anyway, so you might as well work on it."_

_"Hades, you have a date! Worry about not fucking up instead of nagging me to make a weapon to hit the angels with randomly! Plus…Medusa is good."_

_Palutena visibly flinched on her side of things hearing Medusa. What was Hades planning?_

_"Hades, your lack of respect still angers me." Medusa could be heard snarling. "I want to stay dead, but I get revived for this?"_

_"My apologies for Hades, Medusa. His personality hasn't gotten any better since your last death."_

_Medusa could be heard snarling as a smack could be heard followed by a shriek from Daedalus. Hades chuckled hearing Daedalus let out a long string of curse words._

_"WHAT THE HELL! THOSE SNAKES HURT!"_

_"Maybe you should word things more carefully. I don't enjoy my time playing chess after being resurrected. In fact, I'm going to take your queen now."_

_"HEY THAT MOVE IS ILLEGAL!"_

_"In reality Daedalus, this move is very legal. You just played poorly after nearly being bitten in the crotch." A robotic voice explained calmly._

_"SHUT UP TINKER!"_

_Pit wanted to turn back suddenly, but saving Dunban was top priority._

_"HEY! HADES!"_

_Normally Hades would follow up with shouting Pit's name but he looked up thinking it was someone else. He frowned seeing the white angel flying toward him with a weapon._

_"Juliet? Oh…its only Pitty."_

_"No…battle cry?"_

_"No. I'm bugging your old man while I wait for Juliet. She's late. Probably her mother being possessive again."_

_Daedalus could be heard groaning hearing his son's voice especially hearing him declare war on Hades…again._

_"HADES! IF YOU DO NOT RETURN DUNBAN'S SOUL, I WILL BE FORCED TO DEFEAT YOU AGAIN!"_

_Hades could be heard groaning as he stood up. "If it's a battle you want Pitty, it will be a battle you get. Pretty Palutena, you really chose a bad time to attack me."_

_"You chose a bad time to take someone's soul underneath my nose." Palutena growled._

_"I don't see what the issue is of a soul coming down here. Souls come to me all the time."_

_"His soul was forcibly removed! Only you can do that!" Pit exclaimed._

_"I can?"_

_The angel captain was tired dealing with this obnoxious God and proceeded to shoot him. Immediately the Underworld shook from Hades' rushing toward Pit in an attempt to finish things as quickly as possible. During this rather one sided battle due to Hades' not really focusing and Pit not doing as much damage as he would have hoped, Daedalus and Medusa were near the end of their chess game. Daedalus thought he could make a turnaround, but when he lost, he ended up flipping the chessboard with such force that it hits Pit in the face._

_"RAGE QUIT! RAGE QUIT!" The robotic voice named Tinker announced._

_"I WOULD HAVE WON IF YOUR SNAKE DIDN'T BITE ME!"_

_"Excuses…"_

_Palutena wanted to speak to Medusa, but she obviously wasn't in the mood. Although…she did note that the tone of voice she had when seeing Daedalus lose his cool was lighter…as if she was enjoying herself._

_Pit didn't know how long he was fighting Hades, but it was longer than five minutes. Once the Power of Flight ran out, Palutena gave him the Wings of Pegasus to use to continue the flight battle. The platforms in this section of the Underworld were too small for him to fight on and Pit had to remember that Daedalus and Medusa were hiding somewhere. Chances are they were in the Underworld Castle that was not in view._

_A half hour in and that was when Juliet finally showed up. She was the pretty Guardian of Love that worked under the Goddess of Love Ceres (who was the mother of Viridi). When you looked at Juliet, you had a feeling that she belonged to the Underworld instead of the realm that Ceres resided in with her color scheme. She had short, snow white hair and green eyes. The gothic feel that came from her Shinto outfit was there and only in the Underworld did the hearts on her attire shine brightly the closer she got to Hades._

_"Hades, why did you not say you did not have the soul?" Juliet questioned causing Hades to stop all of his actions as if he got caught trying to take a cookie from the cookie jar. "All of this shouting I heard when I come down about a soul being taken and you could have just said no soul that matched the description of a Homs fit."_

_Pit stopped what he was doing as if the realization hit him. Palutena had the same idea as they both shouted, "HADES!"_

_Hades just gave them his troll smile as a reaction. "Oops, I did it again."_

* * *

And this is where the story starts. Pit really hated how Hades made him waste all that time fighting him when Dunban wasn't there in the first place. Being told that a foreign Goddess from a realm he never heard of snatched Dunban away irritated him because that meant more time was wasted trying to pinpoint the location of the realm. This was made worse how no one knew what the Goddess' name was and that Palutena was spending so much time taking Pit back to the mansion and then running a mad search on where Dunban could be in the universe.

Hades gave the implication that the only way to enter the Underworld anyway was to have a demon guide lead them. The reality was that Hades had easy access to all the hells in the universe, but only some crafty messenger could take anyone there. Hermes was suggested to be the guide for the rescue team, but that would take too long (that slippery bastard was stealing more shit in the universe than Pit could count with the Celestial Pirates he commanded).

Daedalus made an offhand comment to ask Pit's fiancé to help him out since he was notorious from jumping location to location leaving his mark like the glory seeking brat he was. Pit shook his head furious at the idea of asking a demon for help…but with Shulk's pressuring, Pit ended up asking Hades to find the wraith Airi to assist them. Hades raised an eyebrow but did not refuse the request due to Juliet nagging the Lord of the Underworld for wasting time and putting someone's life in danger in the process (not like he cared).

Hades had no problem criticizing Daedalus though for being useless and not being the one to be the guide and get things over with. Turns out Daedalus had no idea there was a Slavic Realm. He knew about the Norse Realm, the Japanese Realm, the Chinese Realm and a few others but the Slavic Realm never came up. Daedalus tried to make the excuse that the Slavic Realm probably had a bunch of nobody Gods and Goddesses anyway, but the reality was that Daedalus did not know everything.

Airi took forever to show up that the irritation was starting to show on the both Pit and Shulk. At this point, Palutena had a map on where to go to get to Dunban, but without a demon guide, they still wouldn't go anywhere.

"That little brat is probably forcing her to clean his entire castle again." Pit grumbled. "Must be nice having a maid to do all the work for you diligently."

"You sound jealous." Dark Pit stated the obvious.

"Of course I am! Why can't Airi work here?! She's my girl!"

"I don't think she'll be happy with you referring to her as such." Palutena could be heard lecturing the light angel. "Pit, how many times do I have to tell you that as long as she has Swamp Witch in her possession, she'll be a constant threat."

"But…the Swamp Witch is dead."

"A host with a perfect match is all Airi needs. She has told you she has a good idea who would be the new host for the Swamp Witch."

"Uhh…it will be fine. I trust Airi…" Pit grumbled realizing he wasn't going to change Palutena's mind.

Meanwhile, Rob finished healing Pit and went over to Shulk to help Riki calm him down.

"I can't calm down Rob. Every minute we waste, Dunban life is in greater danger."

"Shulk, you don't expect to rush in with the Monado and save him, do you?"

"…"

"You already know you're going to need a plan. I know Palutena probably already has one, but you need one too just in case it backfires."

"…I know."

"…I'm sorry I can't go with you guys."

"No…its okay."

Hades brought up one extra detail about the Slavic Realm. This place was obviously different from the rest to the point that it was toxic place to humans and some other species. Most of the Smashers probably would not make it through the tunnel that lead to the Slavic Underworld. This was the only reason why Pit was teaming up with Shulk and Riki in the first place. If he had the choice, he would have asked Lucina, Ike and Sonic to go with him. The only reason Magnus was tagging along was because Pit knew he wasn't going to take no for an answer. If he ended up dead because of his stupidity, that would be his fault, and Pit would take his soul to heaven and force him to work under him, and that was the driving force of the mercenary to not die). Dark Pit wasn't allowed to go for safety reasons (and Dark Pit was not happy about this).

"…Just make it back safely…" Rob mumbled. He hesitated to give Shulk a reassuring kiss because the other Smashers were around. Normally, he would, but Shulk noticed that as of late he seemed rather distant and passive. So it would have to be Shulk to lean down and give a soft kiss to his cheek. "Umm…"

"I'll be okay." Shulk told him with a smile. "We'll come back with Dunban."

"Leave everything to Heropon and sidekicks!" Riki exclaimed. "Riki will make sure Dundun is safe and sound."

Magnus wanted to believe that everything would be okay, but had this nagging feeling something would go horribly wrong. This was probably him being cynical though.

Airi finally showed up…and when Pit kept saying how hot she was…well he wasn't kidding. Airi was an attractive girl with long red hair with pigtails and blue eyes. Pit was serious when she said that she was a maid because her outfit of choice was a French maid's attire. Shulk had to wonder how it was possible for demons to be maids when most of them were apparently power hungry than obedient.

"Airi is here!" Pit announced as he wanted to go over to hug her but she wasn't too thrilled with him.

"Pit…I thought I told you that if you need help, you ask Laharl. Not me. I'm his vassal now, and that is the worse thing that could have happened to me." She says in an icy tone. "He would appreciate it if the person he's going to marry would rely on him more than his servant."

Immediately Pit felt a jolt in his heart. He shook his head in denial that he cared about how the Overlord brat felt. He just wanted Pit to be in debt to him, so he could treat him like a slave. He would never be put in that position with a demon ever again.

"…We need your help to get to the Slavic Realm."

"The Underworld is called Nav." Airi corrected him. "Your lack of knowledge amuses me."

"Uh…don't remind me…"

"But remember Pit, I'm only helping if you promise that your Goddess will get off my back about the Swamp Witch." She smirked looking over to the green haired Goddess.

Pit couldn't answer for Palutena. He could tell she was ready to blow up the wraith in front of her for daring to mock her in everyone's presence. She remained calm as she growled a small, "Fine."

She continued to grin as she made one more thing clear to the rescue crew. "If that is out of the way, we shall be on our way. I should remind you that this is not going to take long as long as you obey my orders when we're going to Nav. We wouldn't want an accident to happen, now won't we?"

* * *

While the rescue mission was being planned out, Dunban was slowly coming to. When he was snatched from his room, he was sent into a state of shock that left him unconscious. Now he only just woke up to find himself in a weird Netherworld different from the one that he heard about from Pit. Actually, Pit never talked to Dunban directly about the Underworld. He just remembered Pit taking the third floor to himself and other angels to give a lesson on Underworld as a whole. He recalled standing outside because Pit was rather adamant of him or Shulk coming in particularly (then again, Pit didn't want any Smasher coming in to see what he was lecturing about).

Pit was showing his leadership skills and the fact that he did have knowledge with age and experience. The problem was that Pit wanted to hide his lack of patience with slackers. The Centurions apparently were one thing to train, but when he was lecturing angel children and adolescents with short attention spans, then he was going to lose his temper.

In the lecture hall (that's what Pit wanted to call it) full of young angels and Pittoo (who was the most engaged only because he wanted to catch up with the history of the universe so he wouldn't be so dependent on him), Dunban picked up a lot of details concerning the Underworld and how the color of the sky was noticeably red. There were some instances where the sky would be purple, but Pit honestly didn't know why the Underworld would turn a beautiful shade of purple. He would make a list of all major Underworld minions under Hades before branching off into other demon categories and a brief history of why the Underworld has split into many different Netherworlds owned by powerful Overlords instead of being ruled by Hades. Pit would finally bring up the structure of the Underworld or the lack of it. When Medusa was in charge, everything was somewhat stable, but the minute Hades takes charge, the Underworld falls into absolute chaos with no one to govern the chaotic bunch.

Because of these details, Dunban immediately noticed he was not in Hades' Underworld. It felt like he was in a cave more than a hellish Underworld. The color scheme for this place was mainly brown and orange but mostly a disgusting shade of orange. The worse part though was how there didn't seem to be anything that could be considered anarchic in this cave like Underworld. The place felt desolate and lonely with the only occasional noise apparently coming from fluid falling from the stalactite to the ground.

"So you finally decided to wake up."

Dunban forced himself to focus on where the voice was coming from. He responded so quickly because he recognized that voice from anywhere. Looking before him, he could see an orange-yellow throne surrounded by wisps, skulls and shiny gemstones that were the same shade as the throne.

In the throne itself was a beautiful woman who appeared to be Dunban's age but she appeared to have aged better making her look in her mid-twenties. She had straight, medium length red-orange hair and crimson eyes that burned the soul if contact was made. On her head were two sharp, red horns that were comparable to dragon horns. Her attire was eye candy though. One would notice how her outfit was an open-back, short sleeve, one leg slit, laced dress apparently made from linen and with patterns being identical to that of the scales of a dragon. From a distance, the scales shined on her dress despite the dreary location, but if one were to move closer, the scales were only shiny because they were sharp. It made the area around her chest appear the most dangerous.

Despite there being a charming lady in front of him, Dunban couldn't help but gasp seeing her and not for good reasons.

"Y-You!"

The woman raised an eyebrow while keeping the sinister grin that has been on her face since the beginning.

"Oh, you remember me? This is good for me, so I don't have to explain anything to you."

Dunban's immediate reaction was to reach for his katana only to be surprised that only was he lacking a weapon but he was mostly naked except for his boxers. Yeah, he was about to go to sleep, but he would think that in the situation he was in that he would have some clothes to cover him up. The chill factor in this Underworld was obvious and he found himself shivering without a weapon to protect himself against this woman.

"The first thing you want to do when you see me again is point a sword at me. Aren't you rude."

"Why wouldn't I? You're the demon that made that contract with me when I was twelve!"

"The name is Ala, young Dunban." She said in a mocking tone. "I'm glad you remember what I did to you back then."

How could he forget? The powers he had when fighting in Bionis were not his own. At least any elemental magic because that was all given to him by this female demon. The older Homs would rather not dive to deep down memory lane. Everything for when he was a child was nothing but despair and misery with only his sister Fiora keeping him from just giving up all together. Fiora was his light. That was why he took the offer of a female demon that approached him in a desperate situation. He exchanged his soul and ability to reincarnate in the afterlife for powers that could be used to protect his little sister. These powers have helped him throughout his life to say the least.

"Eighteen years. My goodness, it has been so long." Ala commented causing Dunban to continue glaring at her. "I was supposed to take your soul during the Battle of Sword Valley, but there had been some interference, so I couldn't fulfill the contract then. However, multiple times you had cheated death and I had to wait until things settled down before I could grab your soul." She frowned when she remembered something and complained about it in front of the samurai. "To make matters worse, when things did settle down, you, that furball and that kid disappeared off Bionis. I looked everywhere and you're in the god damn Smash Brothers Realm!"

"And that's a bad thing because?"

"It took forever to infiltrate that realm and take your soul!" She shouted before she forced herself to calm down. "But I got your soul now after eighteen years."

"…So the contract is complete…" Dunban murmured to himself more than her. "…How…unfortunate…"

Dunban wasn't the type to feel defeated, but given the context of the contract, this was his inevitable fate.

"Then again…I can't officially take your soul until three hours have past. In that three hours, you can still cheat the contract, but…" She smiled as she suddenly approached him causing him to step back. "I don't think you found someone who loves you dearly."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 5130 words. Notes!
> 
> 1\. If anyone is wondering about why the Underworld Army is different, let's just say this story takes place in a timeline after Mecha Galaxy (this is when the biggest push for Raven when concerning how to spend her time wisely in her quest to save Prism and defeat the Great Evil). A big spoiler I should probably say is that I think Hades will be vaguely aware of the timelines along with Palutena (who despite telling Rosalina that she'll remember without any context, she won't until Mecha Galaxy). As a result, Pandora is working under him again, Daedalus after all the abuse from Diamond goes back to Hades (because he found a way to remember all timelines without the need of being on Diamond's ship) and Medusa is resurrected to try again (although she's still angry and bitter with everyone). Juliet is also visiting the Underworld more often because she becomes fonder of Hades with every timeline regardless if she forgets or not.
> 
> The memory thing also applies to Pit and Shulk and why they work together more despite Pit obviously discriminating against aliens. I don't think I'll have Dark Pit remember everything and it's kept vague enough to where he'll only remember his chastity vow. So to sum it up, Rosalina is no longer alone with dealing with the constant resets. Again, I might have to change Dark Pit depending on how I finish up Mecha Galaxy in the future.
> 
> 2\. Another noticeable thing about this being post Mecha Galaxy where Pit remembers the previous timelines is that the pairings with Pit will remain consistent. In other words, the constant nagging of Pit to take Laharl seriously is going to be there. That means future fics will actually start having Pit/Laharl instead of Pit jumping around (with a few exceptions of hitting on Airi and Pittoo but the former will pretty much end everything in this timeline and Pittoo will end up being his only go to for old times sake. After all, Pittoo needs to carve a future for himself.)
> 
> 3\. When Aria and I were doing research on Xenoblade Chronicles, the idea of Dunban making a pact with a demon came up. We were looking up any deity or demon that could control the weather and Ala from Slavic mythology came up. I made her into my OC and thus we get this entire arc where I will have Ala as the Loki of this realm with how things are being planned out so far. Ala is a demon but I put her as a Goddess because she is the current ruler of the Slavic Underworld because Perun (the Zeus equivalent in Slavic mythology killed Veles (the original ruler). From what little info I give for this chapter, the contracts she makes are similar to Kyubey from Madoka Magica and Ursula from The Little Mermaid in which the contract indeed does benefit the user, but if the contract cannot be fulfilled then Ala takes your soul.
> 
> Appearance wise, her outfit is identical to Black Lady's outfit from Sailor Moon only with dragon scales. Ala is associated with a raven and a female dragon therefore I thought the dragon motif suited her better (given I already have Raven as the raven motif in my universe).
> 
> Her quip at the end gives the obvious Hans vibe, but that is an implication of what Dunban was supposed to do to nullify the contract or she would take his soul. Seems impossible given how he struck out with Melia in Xenoblade Chronicles.


	2. The Second Hour (Rewinding a Bit)

_Dunban's day hasn't been going well at all if traced back to the early morning (and it goes even further)._

_If one wanted to know about his day before the evening his soul was forced out of his body, then one could say that he was put on standby for the eight player Smash (with items on so everything was chaotic). Shulk was participating with Robin, Dark Pit, Luigi, Sheik, Diddy, Lucario and Mewtwo on Luigi's Mansion stage. It took a while for Master Hand to allow eight fighters to fight on it. Luigi was not a happy man and spent the whole match counting how many times the mansion was destroyed and who was intentionally destroying it._

_One thing lead to another and Dunban did have to be summoned due to Shulk getting the Final Smash. He still had to wonder how Shulk lost that round though. Perhaps it was because Dark Pit was having too fun destroying the mansion or maybe Shulk did not do well on a stage that constantly broke apart or maybe Lucario and Mewtwo throwing out aura sphere and shadow ball constantly racked up so much damage that Monado Shield wasn't going to save him. (Alvis wasn't helping with his visions much either). Sheik ended up taking that round even though Luigi probably put up the biggest fight on his own stage. Shulk got fourth place (which he thought wasn't too bad, but he was the only one who got the Smash Ball and still ranked low, there was a problem especially against Robin)._

_After what Dunban considered a waste of time even if he got a little exercise from that one Final Smash, the mercenary was quick to rush to the infirmary where Magnus was currently staying._

_Magnus had been in the infirmary for the past few days now and it was all Pit's fault (it was why Dark Pit filled in for Pit in today). The angel captain had so many enemies outside of Smash that the minute Pit isn't around; the demons show up in an attempt to take his life. Palutena wasn't around either because she was specifically sending Pit off somewhere that required her full attention. Rosalina wasn't around either as she was doing her tasks around the galaxy and would make it back later on in the day. This left Viridi to handle any outsiders and she was horrible at doing it._

_The demons that attacked were trying to get back at Pit by hurting the angel that Pit was most associated with. In other words, Dark Pit had a huge target on his back because of his older twin._

_It happened before Rosalina came back. Dark Pit had taken the time off to help Rita with his sniping skills in Smash Forest. Since the staff was highly associated with magic, those with high magic potential needed to wield it. There were jokes amongst the angels on how Pit needed three snipers in the royal bodyguards and thus wasn't too original for an angel captain (the three staff wielders were Dark Pit, Aqua and Rita)._

_The dark angel wasn't expecting an attack from these particular demons. In fact, he didn't register what they were expect that there were all giant in comparison to him and the nature angel who trembled in fear at the sight. Pittoo didn't bring anyone with him because he didn't want to be caught training Rita. This worked against his favor since they were easily surrounded._

_Rita was a powerful angel without the need of the staff. The forest was his home field and it showed when the two were able to constantly outsmart the demons despite being outnumbered. Pittoo couldn't kill them. He didn't know how (or rather was in panic and couldn't aim his staff correctly)._

_The animals that lived in the forest could hear Rita's pleas for assistance from the Smashers. Rita in particular was hoping to reach his father. Magnus had no magic, so he wouldn't be able to sense that Rita was in any danger. That and hanging a little outside of Smash Brothers Mansion with Dunban prevented him from getting to his son right away. Dunban recalled how he wanted just once to pry Magnus away from the adorable boy for this one request that he's been holding back for so long. Unfortunately, just seeing the birds fly out of the forest prevented even this from happening._

_Magnus could be quick on his feet when he wanted to especially if it concerned protecting his child. At this point, the demons weren't going to fall for Rita's antics again and caught them both. The demons joked about cooking up the little green angel later, but the focus was on Dark Pit who was the one they needed to get back at Pit. Pittoo couldn't break free from their huge arms. He could do nothing but curse at them and threaten them with physical violence if they didn't let him go. They were more concerned with feeling up his tunic causing him to shriek._

_Rita still had an ace in the hole. Clapping his hand, he caused a vine to come out from the palm of his hand. The vine continued to grow at an alarming rate that by the time the bull demon with the huge horns looked toward the nature angel, he was already impaled in the eye._

_A loud growl echoed in the forest as he dropped the dark angel. He lowered his head and charged toward Rita thus making things worse for his eye injury. The vine was going through his eye socket at this point and seeing the blood spew everywhere only caused the young angel to scream. He cut the vine a little too late when the demon rammed him against the nearby tree._

_"RITA!" Dark Pit called out as he tried to stand up but the other demons made sure he wouldn't come back up._

_"Stay down, you brat!"_

_This was the part where Magnus and Dunban arrived on the scene. Magnus recognized the demon as a Minotaur and could easily see why the particular leader went after Pit. The white angel apparently had a phobia against these beasts, so if they were to target Pit, the chances of them overwhelming him would be higher._

_In the process of Magnus grabbing the Minotaur when he tried to ram his horns into the little boy, Magnus grabbed him and hurled him into his demon buddies._

_"Father!" Rita exclaimed immediately recovering from the sudden take down attack._

_"Rita, you okay?"_

_"Of course! The forest is my friend!" Rita exclaimed. "Save Li though! They want to take him away and get back at Captain Pit!"_

_Dunban had to wonder who Li was, but it would later be obvious that in Skyworld, Dark Pit preferred to be called Lived Twilight or Li for short just so he wouldn't get be constantly reminded of his clone status. The samurai made it his goal to get Dark Pit out of the bad situation. He may not have like Pit, but the black angel should not suffer because of the stuff his elder sibling did. It was why he easily cut through the demons that dared look at him. They would never hit him. Dunban was too quick for them for them. It wouldn't be long until he hacked off the arm off of the demon that held Pittoo down._

_"Come on!" Dunban shouted trying to get the black angel on his feet. "Can you still fight?"_

_"Not from this distance…" Pittoo murmured._

_Li did not need to join the battle though. Magnus in rage had already taken out all the demons except for one. The one with the impaled eye refused to die without trying to take someone with him. Again he charged Rita, and Magnus wasn't as quick to catch him this time. He got his arm injured in the process, but Rita recovered fast enough to clap his hands and shoot another vine that impaled the Minotaur in the other eye. It let out another howl as it continued to push Magnus into the tree sinking his horn deeper into his arm. The mercenary held back a pained groan._

_"COME ON! BECOME FOOD FOR THE FOREST!" Rita screamed as the vine suddenly wrapped around the Minotaur in a strangle hold that was so powerful that it ripped the head off the demon exposing the skeleton that was holding the head up._

_Would there have been a victory cheer for Rita's first violent kill? Perhaps. Would he and Pittoo been lectured if Magnus was not bleeding so profusely? Probably. Was Magnus going to die from a terrible wound like this?_

_According to Rob, who was the only efficient healer in the mansion since Rosalina had yet to return, said maybe. The wound was rather deadly in the sense that Magnus might lose his arm if it wasn't treated immediately. Rob's skills weren't something to slack on though. It just took all the strength out of him to ensure that Magnus wouldn't bleed to death nor lose his arm. He was very just fortunate that Rob knew how to heal, or he would have to learn how to fight with one arm (the idea did sound badass though). Dunban wouldn't admit that his respect for Rob had gone up, but the white haired mage would think nothing of it._

_Despite Magnus being in the clear, he was told that he wouldn't be able to use his arm to do any heavy lifting (that meant no sparring matches). Magnus was on painkillers for the time being, but it didn't change how badly the arm was injured. Rita felt terrible for what occurred and went with Viridi to go around the galaxy looking for the best healing items needed to patch Magnus up immediately. This was why when Pit came back to hear what happened, he was legitimately upset that he couldn't pull Rita to the side and talk to him. Magnus wouldn't be surprised if Rita took on this mission with Viridi just to avoid the angel captain._

_Dunban had been visiting Magnus ever since to keep him company. Magnus enjoyed the companionship, and they continued speaking to each other. The older Homs was slowly edging toward asking Magnus something important. Every time he tried, he lost the courage to do so. Dunban cursed himself for not knowing why he was chickening out at the end._

_This particular day though, Dunban was ready to tell Magnus what he wanted from him all this time. In the past, he was in denial about what this might be, but now he needed a confirmation._

_Unfortunately, this conversation would end in failure when Pit came back from his mission. He finished up early, but upon hearing that Rita was doing something with Viridi, he had to take a detour and help the nature angel out. Now he was the one back to give Magnus the medicine Viridi easily whipped up from all the plant material that she obtained in the Evergreen Galaxy._

_Pit didn't kick Dunban out though. If Dunban wanted to be the one to handle the medicine, he had the chance. The light angel was rather generous to the older Homs despite his obvious distaste toward aliens. The samurai refused to do so and would tell Magnus some other time when he got out of the hospital. Magnus did notice the sad eyes that Dunban gave him though._

_"Well, time for your medicine!" Pit declared before a fight would break out on how Magnus would take the medicine._

_Things settled down for the evening. Dunban just allowed himself to relax. The frustration from failing to successfully talk to Magnus today was starting to affect his heart. He didn't want to deal with his emotional distress, but unfortunately, Riki wasn't making things easier._

_"Dundun, is something wrong? Tell Riki what is wrong."_

_Dunban grumbled as a response. "I'm fine."_

_Riki kept giving him that look. Dunban wasn't that good at lying about something like this. Riki was more observant than he let on, so he had to come up with some half-truth before…_

_"Is it about Magna?"_

_"No…" Dunban answered, but clicked his tongue. He really didn't want to think about the older male now. "Actually…it is about a dream I have been having as of late. A dream telling me my life is over…and the contract has expired…"_

_Riki was very interested in this topic and almost forgot that Dunban was only bringing something like this up to avoid the topic of Magnus._

_"I don't have Shulk's power, but I feel like the dream is telling me something…"_

_Almost immediately after bringing up the subject, the room the two residents of Bionis were in suddenly changed a dark orange color. Dunban thought he was nearly floating in infinite space while Riki started hovering over the ground in surprise. Before anything could be said, a large hand appeared from a void in front of Dunban's bed and seized his body._

_"Grahhh!"_

_"Dundun!"_

_Riki panicked seeing his friend being dragged into the orange void. No matter how strong Dunban was, this magic was stronger than he was therefore he had no hope of getting away. Dunban thought he recognized the nail polish on the hand…it appeared feminine. This small detail was enough for him to realize that perhaps the dream was a warning of this moment._

_What Riki saw wasn't much Dunban bring dragged as the soul of the older Homs being dragged while his body was trying its best to resist._

_"Get Shulk!" Dunban yelled to Riki knowing too well it would be too late by then. "If you try to help, we'll both be dragged in!"_

_"But Dundun…"_

_The last thing Dunban wanted to see before his head was pulled into the void was the worried look of his comrade. It was a good thing that Shulk wouldn't see him get sucked in without much of a fight because he wanted the blond to have a high opinion of him before being dragged under. Of course…if the last time seeing Shulk was leaving to see Magnus after the Monado boy lost the free for all…_

_Dunban's mind became a blank after those thoughts came to mind._

* * *

If Dunban were fast enough, he would have been able to raise his hand against the demon that insulted him. He found himself unable to do so and backed off when she got too close. Something like this wouldn't bother him but this is the demon mistress who snatched his soul when something in his life has yet to be fulfilled. Yes, he lived longer than expected, but he sure as hell wanted to make sure he did everything before he kicked the bucket.

"Really, you are one of my luckiest targets. You should have died at the Battle of Sword Valley, but you got to live a little over two years. Your luck has run out now. In three hours, I'm going to eat your soul and that will be the end of it."

"…Then couldn't you have waited until time is up?" Dunban asked in a frustrated tone. "If I would have known that today was my last day, I would have…"

"Nothing was going to change, hun. You had eighteen years to terminate the contract, but you couldn't do something as simple as falling in love."

Love was not a simple matter. Dunban knew this in the back of his mind. He played around with the idea in the past with how he constantly nagged Shulk and Fiora to be together (indirectly and unsuccessfully seeing as how Shulk had found love in that little brat Rob), or how he slept around but gained no attachment with those individuals. There was that one time he tried to be serious with Melia but she rejected him immediately. There was no point in pursuing someone who wasn't interested.

So…the Goddess of Love must have hated him.

"I could have…" Dunban cut himself off. "…No…you're right. It is impossible. I was doomed from the start."

"Of course it was impossible. I already said that. Now get yourself situated in my Underworld."

He growled at how quickly she dismissed the idea of him falling in love. It wasn't impossible…it really wasn't…there was Magnus…

His eyes widened thinking of him and forced himself not to blush thinking of him. There was no way…

"ALA!"

The Queen of Nav glanced up with a wicked grin on her face. "Oh, I have a brave living guest. What can I do for you?"

The only reason why Ala wasn't frightened was because the person in front of her was a half-demon therefore the human part was weak and the demon part would never dare to stand up to the demon mistress in her realm. This girl was a sexy girl with big red eyes and long silver hair. Dunban was surprised that this brave individual was a house life from the type of clothes she wore. She wore a red cat ear-like headband, a white apron with a red ribbon wrapped around the middle and white thigh-high boots with red diamond designs. It wasn't a problem that she wore purple lace panties out in the open, but it didn't seem like an appropriate outfit to wear in a place like this (then again, Dunban was in his underwear, so he should stop thinking like that). The only thing that did not match the outfit was the golden full-length arm-guard on her left arm. She was being asymmetric with the red sleeve on her right hand. Hovering to the left of her was a creepy red teddy bear doll with huge teeth, an eye patch on its right hands and a choker. On her right side was a creepy green frog doll with bulging eyes and a long, slimy tongue. To Ala, this half-demon was laughable with her weapon of choice being a paddle.

"Where is my husband?!"

Ala tilted her head in confusion before grinning. "There are a lot of husbands down here. Does he have a name?"

"Answer my question! You know who I'm talking about!"

"Oh, he might have stumbled in here by mistake. Your husband is such a scatterbrain after all." The Queen of Nav taunted noticing the half-demon's hands was shaking. "Oh Aldra sweetie, he might have even made a pact with me to get more money for you and have you two live happily ever after."

"My husband is a hard worker! He would never resort to such contracts!"

"Even if it's for you? He loves you so much."

This conversation of love was making Dunban nauseous. Perhaps he should use this opportunity to flee…but there was nowhere to run, so why bother?

"Fine, don't point your weapon toward me." Ala said with a sigh as she made the hand gesture of "lowering your weapon". She continued to smirk though seeing as how Aldra refuse to do so. "I only have one task for you. See that man over there? Make sure he doesn't escape Nav. He may have three hours left, but he can still escape."

Dunban's eyes widened at her words rather than Ala giving the a-okay for this protective wife to beat him senseless with her paddle, so he would never leave.

"…Why would you say that?" Aldra questioned not completely driven by rage of her missing husband. "This man…he's already bound to you through a contract. How is it possible to leave?"

"Well, he can leave but…he can take the risk of leaving and if he's caught he'll never reincarnate."

"…But he would not be able to reincarnate anyway when the time runs out.

"Who knows."

Dunban refused to trust the woman he made a pact with. She was the type of individual who prayed on her victim's desire to cheat the system. If he played her game, he would lose more than what he already had.

"…There is no need for this lady to attack." Dunban told her firmly. "I have no reason to escape. I have done everything I wanted to do with my life, and while I would have wanted to see my sister one more time or tell Shulk that I was not angry with him for his battle today, I feel like they would understand if I left without telling them a thing. Those two are adults now. They can survive on their own without me. They have someone who cherishes them dearly…and they have each other…"

Those words were very convincing. Unfortunately, Ala and Aldra were not convinced that Dunban was ready for the afterlife. For Aldra, she could see the look in his eyes and had that feeling that he wanted what he said that those important people he mentioned have. Love…the topic was what got him nervous in the first place, so if that was what he needed in order to terminate the contract, then the half-demon couldn't help but feel sorry for the man she was ordered to hit. Ala however…

"Oh, if that's what you think…then I'll ask Belphe and Dogor over there if they want a piece of you before I eat your soul." She announced in an icy tone. "I know you two want to eat your master, but the soul before you is the next best thing."

Now she was advertising Dunban like he was some rare meat. He shivered at her tone, but he was more worried about the two dolls that suddenly started talking the minute Ala made the suggestion. He thought they were just weapons like Pit's Guardian Orbitars, but these dolls were sentiment beings.

"Might I ask what you will do to him for us to have a little…fun…" The red teddy bear known as Belphe asked with a huge grin that showed off all of his teeth.

"I don't want to lick a man! They're gross!" The green frog Dogor whined. "If you can't make it interesting, I'm going to just float here and complain!"

Aldra did not like how Ala was now targeting her demons when Aldra hesitated to do her bidding. If Dunban said he had no reason to escape, then she would have to make it to where he had to escape and cause conflict for her.

"Since this man is just a soul, I can do whatever I want in my realm. You two love women, so what would you say I change his body figure to match your fantasy?"

The samurai's eyes widened in horror at what she was suggesting but it was enough to get the two dolls hyperactive.

"BIG BOOBS!" Dogor declared. "TIGHT ASS!"

"And wonderful juices…" Belphe murmured as he stared at Dunban. "Only if we catch him?"

"Why of course. He's all yours until the clock is up. I should warn you that if you actually eat his soul before me, I will kill you both. This is my catch, and I'm letting you toy around with my cuisine before then."

The minute Ala told Belphe and Dogor about the gender bender promise, Dunban immediately regretted admitting defeat. There would be no swift death for him here in this hell. He wouldn't simply vanish or have a painless death if he were swallowed whole her like what Ala intended to.

Those two dolls laughed when Aldra did give them the orders to go after the samurai once she realized that the demon dolls would not obey her even if she told them to stand down. She had the resolve to find her husband in Nav and if she had to throw an innocent person under the bus…she would do so…even if the implication of Dunban being caught were less than pleasant…

"You may not be a hot woman like Madam Aldra or Mistress Ala," Dogor began licking his lips, "but you're pretty enough."

"I can't wait to sink my teeth into your flesh." Belphe added clanking his teeth in the process.

Dunban looked over to Aldra hoping she would reconsider but seeing the fire in her eyes, he sighed in defeat as they slowly crept toward him. He didn't have a weapon, but they were only dolls. They had the same weakness as any other doll in that it would only take a powerful kick to send them flying into the nearby wall.

"That wasn't nice…"

"OWW! YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT YOU JACKASS!"

Dunban took off running not looking back. Ala was going to claim his soul in three hours, but maybe he could cheat death and find the exit before then. Would the cunning woman allow that? In the Homs' mind, he didn't think Ala would let him run off unless she was confident that he would fail. So if he couldn't get out, at least he could avoid a lesser punishment from these dolls that soared after him at top speed. Now was a good time to put the "naked Dunban" strategy to work!

* * *

The rescue mission had already begun. Airi read the unlikely group of heroes through the Underworld tunnel that linked Hades' Underworld to Nav. Palutena had no choice but to trust Hades to not lead them to another Underworld therefore wasting more precious time. Juliet wasn't going to let Hades do that though, so Palutena was slightly relieved. She went back to her temple to focus all of her energy on communicating with Pit and the others. If she noticed anything, she would warn them but she expected Pit to keep his wits up. Unfortunately, Pit was more focused at looking down Airi's outfit that he probably didn't hear Palutena tell him to be careful.

The thing that brought Pit back to reality was some sort of bug buzzing near his ear before biting him in the back of the neck. The white angel yelped before attempting to smack the bug away. It was too fast for him and by the time he tried to swat it, the insect was already gone.

"Damn bug! If that was Virtue I swear to Lady Palutena…"

Shulk snickered at Pit's over the top reaction to being bitten, but made sure to be on the look out so a little pest wouldn't attack him.

_"Pit, what did I tell you about being focused?"_

"Sorry Lady Palutena…"

Airi giggled seeing the brunette being lectured by her Goddess for something as stupid as a bug. Still, it was odd for there to be bugs in Nav that could just bite someone and leave. Hopefully, this wouldn't be a big deal for Pit in the future.

"Hey Airi, do you have the history of the Slavic Realm?" Pit asked her trying to change the subject.

"So you're like your father in not knowing either?"

"Forgive me if I don't know a realm that doesn't attend the God meetings." Pit grumbled. "Lady Palutena, can you make a list of all the Gods that attend that stupid meeting?"

_"Besides my family? Not that many as of late. They all have their own problems. I can say that the Norse Gods are all gone because of Ragnarok."_

Shulk tilted his head in confusion with this information. He could just ask Alvis to clarify what the Goddess of Light was talking about, but he wanted to avoid talking to the silver haired man until dire information was needed.

"I'll simplify it for you since you're incapable of processing information." The wraith mocked. She allowed Pit to walk besides her while she explained the situation. "In the simplest terms, the Slavic Realm is a polytheistic realm that is almost identical to the one on modern Earth and my world."

"Come again?"

_"Pit, this realm has multiple Gods but follows the concept of Christianity or something similar to it. Correct?"_

"Your Goddess picks up the facts quickly." Airi said. "There is little conflict in this realm due to how Lord Perun will not make the same mistake as Odin did in the Norse Realm."

"You mean let Loki ruin everything?" Pit wondered out loud.

"Right. Lord Perun paid close attention to that catastrophe, so he made sure Lord Veles would never come back in any shape or form to take revenge on him. Although, I do not think entrusting Nav to Mistress Ala was the greatest of ideas."

"Ala?" Shulk asked. "Is that the name of the person who took Dunban?"

"Most likely." Airi responded. "Mistress Ala is not technically a Goddess. She was originally a demon that worked under Lord Veles, but once he died, she swore she would never dream of defying Lord Perun. Those are just words and while Mistress Ala has kept to her word, that has not stopped her from using her powers to make contracts in the universe."

"So basically…she has power outside of her realm." The light angel murmured trying to absorb as much information as he could.

"You're getting smarter Pit." The wraith teased. "Mistress Ala's power revolves around the contracts she makes with people. She has them sign it with the promise of giving them something that they desire. When the contract expires, she drags them back to her realm. I honestly don't know what she does with the souls of those that signed the contract…"

_"I would think that as a demon she would eat them."_

"Probably. I know I would, but I would rather pray on the un-expecting person than give them hope and then yank it away without them knowing."

"…Are you saying Dunban made a pact with the devil?" Shulk asked in disbelief. Yeah there were some instances he questioned Dunban's moves but other than that, he never really thought much about it.

"Most likely. Mistress Ala only goes after those who specifically make a pact with her. Now I should probably mention that she tends to go for children and adolescences that don't understand the wording of her contract. To terminate the contract, you simply have to fulfill the end requirement. It is different for every person and Mistress Ala makes it something that would be near impossible for the child to do after observing them from afar."

"But…you still need to beat her at her own game though…" Pit mumbled.

"Yes. I would advise you Pit to tell your Goddess to prepare the poor man's body. Just because we get his soul will not mean much if we do not get him out of Nav in time."

"…Four hours…" Shulk murmured. "We wasted one hour waiting."

"You mean I wasted one hour." Pit corrected. "I didn't see you go to the Underworld and get hit by a chessboard."

"You're lucky that a bishop wasn't shoved up your-" Shulk cut himself off reminding himself that he would not stoop to insults especially if someone he cared for was in danger. "…Forget I said anything…"

The entire time everyone was talking, Magnus had trailed behind them in silence. Because of the medicine, his arm was feeling better, but he felt that it wasn't well enough that he could swing his sword without consequence. This time limit was going to wear him out more than anything else. Airi made it clear before leaving they would reach Dunban before the time was up, but the question was whether or not they could get him out on time. If Palutena warped Dunban's body to where his soul was outside of Nav, then it would be possible to do it right there and just leave. Otherwise…Dunban was as good as dead.

"Magnus how is your arm?" Pit asked noticing his comrade's silence. "You sure you're going to be okay?"

"You don't need to worry angel face. I'm not stopping until I bring Samurai home."

Shulk couldn't help but smile. At least Magnus and Riki were on the side of being concerned for Dunban's well-being unlike Pit who was doing this out of obligation of his angel duties.

"Samurai better be alive when we get there, or I'll have to drag his soul by force."

Those encouraging words allowed the group to move on in high spirits even though Magnus continued to have that nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 6830 words. Notes!
> 
> 1\. The demons described to attack Dark Pit and Rita is a combination of Minotaurs and Centaurs (I classify them under demons simply because they're half horse and if they're not hanging out in the Evergreen Galaxy, then they're most likely in the Underworld). Minotaurs are common demons that attack Pit along with goblins because they have the biggest grudge against him.
> 
> 2\. While I have given the royal bodyguards weapons in the past, due to how Uprising classify staffs as sniper rifles, I had to adjust the weapons Aqua had in particular so not only is she a distant fighter but can also use magic with it. In general the staff is capable of such magic but the choice to snipe or use magic is up to the user. Dark Pit uses his own staff, Rita has the Rose staff (fitting because he's the nature angel) and Aqua has the Flintlock staff (the worse close combat in the game).
> 
> 3\. Already brought up in Secret Smash Rendezvous is Rob being able to heal because he switched to the priest class at one point and it still carries over even if he went back to the tactician class. Story wise, this is to prevent Rosalina from being the one to always heal everyone who gets injured (and gives him more use overall).
> 
> 4\. Evergreen Galaxy was planned to be part of the Super Smash Galaxy series, but once I decided that Mecha Galaxy is the last one, any other galaxies that have the same theme name would be changed and be post Mecha Galaxy. The idea in mind isn't going to be that happy especially since anything post Mecha Galaxy has Pit being rather cynical. Evergreen Galaxy is the realm of the elves, fairies and anything similar to fairies FYI.
> 
> 5\. Magna is Magnus' Japanese name sounding more like magma and an implication of his personality rather than implying who he's supposed to be in Greek mythology. The Japanese names of the Kid Icarus cast in general seems to simplify there names (Phosphora is Electra, Viridi is Nature etc.) instead of come up with something creative.
> 
> 6\. Aldra is from Queen's Blade and this is her Rebellion appearance and personality. In the original series, she was the main villain who was the queen of the continent hosting the Queen's Blade tournament. When she lost to Leina thus losing her power of the Continent, Aldra traveled with Tomoe to Hinomoto to search for her sister. In the end, she separated from Tomoe and nearly died in the desert being saved by her husband. She lost all of her memory in the process and because of that dedicates her life to serving her husband (who is implied to be the reader, but if I were to give him a name, I would name him Mark as a shout out to Fire Emblem 7.)
> 
> In this story, Aldra was called out the same way Claudette called her to the castle in Rebellion. Her husband was threatened in Rebellion if she did not serve her queen, but here, Aldra knows what happened to him and wants her to do her bidding until she can eat Dunban's soul. She's more interested in Aldra's demons Belphe and Dogor (Belphegor, the demon of sloth) who are more likely to cause more harm to Dunban than Aldra would when blackmailed simply because Belphe and Dogor are crazy as fuck when Aldra isn't paying attention to them. In the anime, they made these two REALLY scary when they were a joke in the original material. Belphe is the nice one of the two because he speaks like a gentleman and is polite but he's actually rather haughty and is the one who will more likely eat you in a gory fashion. Dogor in comparison is a jerk that is always trying to rape Aldra (but can't because no penis), but he's not that smart. This combined with the fact he's prideful and talks a lot about demon pride (when in the Disgaea universe, trying to rape someone is deplorable) and you got a good foil to Belphe. He's also rather masochistic so he enjoys violence.
> 
> 7\. The reason why I say the Norse Realm is gone because of Ragnarok is because of my headcanon that The Chariot Master is Thor. Thor lives with the regret of not being able to prevent Ragnarok. Ironically, all the Gods in all the realms make fun of the Norse Gods for this and they all proceed to not destroy themselves out of carelessness. This is why I bring up the Slavic God Perun who is the equivalent to Zeus in Greek Mythology and appears like Thor in terms of personality and the weapon of choice; kill the God of the Underworld Veles permanently to prevent any sort of uprising. Of course, Ala isn't really the best replacement either as we will find out later on.


	3. The Third Hour (Hour of Suffering)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a mainly porn driven chapter. Most of the warnings come from this particular chapter.

Dunban felt like he was in Wonderland more than he was in another Underworld. Nothing in this place felt well organized and appeared like a maze that was used in those lab rat experiments. When the samurai ran through an entrance in the carefully lit caves, he felt like he ran right back to where he started. The noise behind him was getting louder every time he ran through a different entrance. Even if he were to stop to look at the stalactite and notice a pattern on the order he was supposed to run through the doors, it didn't stop the Homs from seeing some disturbing content in Nav.

As a demon, Ala had claimed many souls in her lifetime. Dunban was not the only one who was going to meet the same fate as those who signed a contract with her. The souls that have been dragged down to hell were absorbed into the wall forming horrifying expressions. The souls could do nothing but scream and moan. The words they formed were unintelligible and the closer Dunban was to the wall, the louder they wailed. This was the main reason why the Homs didn't want to be in this area for too long. The fates of the souls were getting to him. This is what he would end up like if he gave up without a fight. If he weren't a screeching soul stuck in the cave wall, he would end up as a skeleton. The bones of the human corpses were laid out on the floor as if they were kicked multiple times in the past. People who tried to escape must have tripped on them as Dunban almost did. The bones broke if even a little bit of pressure was applied.

The worse of the people that were in Nav appeared to be those recently caught and were subjected to a special torture before the souls were ripped out. When Dunban finally went the right way (he could tell due to the screeching becoming weaker replaced with a more toned down, aroused voices), he noticed that the walls were forming tentacles around the current victims.

Dunban found himself mesmerized at the sight and not in the good way. He might have been shaking at the sight and he probably was. The orange walls formed more than just tentacles around the victims. Sometimes it formed hands that gripped onto the victim tightly while thrusting something inside their body. The voices here were no longer screaming for help. If their mouth didn't have a tentacle shoved up them, then they were moaning into the pleasure given to them. Their eyes either lost all emotion or were rolled back during climax. The voices demanded more pleasure. They demanded for fast and hard thrusts and some of the voices were murmuring Ala's name (or at least the female victims were). At the very least these unfortunate people were not children. It made sense for Ala to wait until they hit the age of eighteen at the very least. She considered them pure at that age if they have yet to subject themselves to sex. It wouldn't even be a surprise if many of the contracts concerned maintaining ones virginity. The contract that Dunban signed didn't have a downside except that when the time came for his soul to be dragged to hell, he would not resist.

The samurai had every desire to resist now though seeing how everyone in this Underworld was suffering. Sure he didn't have much left to do in the world of the living, but this was a horrible way to go in the afterlife. Heck, many of the children that made a pact probably were innocent, but are either subjected to either a path of pain or a path of lust in the afterlife.

Dunban needed to take a step back. He couldn't bear watching this anymore. The desire to give in was gone replaced with the desire to flee from this place. He would prefer to be in the Underworld of Pit's world than this one. He wasn't going to have a peaceful afterlife here…

"You shouldn't stop."

"You're going to get caught!"

How long did Dunban stand there? He thought it wasn't that long, but the dolls had enough time to sneak up behind him and give him a huge jump scare before everything went black.

* * *

Dunban shot up out of bed in a cold sweat. His heart was racing and he felt like he woke up from a terrible dream.

"Oh, you're awake."

Dunban immediately turns to where the voice is coming from and nearly feels his heart stop seeing Magnus beside him. Immediately, he looked around to see where he was. He looked to be in the infirmary of Smash Brothers Mansion.

"Where…am I? What…happened?"

"Oh, the machine went haywire." Magnus said simply although he didn't look too happy. "A lot of Smashers got hurt in the process when Master tried to pull them out. You were unfortunately one of them and compared to the others, you got torn up pretty bad. The good old doctor checked you out along with a few others, but you should be fine now as long as you rest up."

"I…see…"

"I was asked to watch over you. Your little fur ball friend wanted to stay, but I asked him to go comfort some of the other Smashers who were hurt. It's a shame that Kirby was one of the injured."

Dunban wasn't really paying attention to the explanation at this point. He tried to recoil what happened before that. He was certain that his soul was dragged to the Slavic Underworld and he was running for his life to not end up a miserable soul like the rest of the pathetic contractors. He was distracted and ended up getting caught by those two stuffed animals. Did everything he witness a dream? If so…why did he feel something was off?

"Dunbun, you alright there? You look like you had a bad dream."

The samurai rolled his eyes at the nickname. "Please refer me by my name. Honestly, why couldn't you call me something like Samurai? It's more fitting…"

"I thought I told you. The Goth girl that hangs around Hades is a more refined samurai than you. That title goes to her."

"Gee thanks…"

The two ended up sitting in silence after that. Dunban was normally okay with this type of stillness, but with his heart still trembling, he felt like he needed to break it. He let out a small gasp feeling Magnus place an arm around him. Apparently, the injury he sustained in battle wasn't as serious as Magnus claimed to be. Otherwise, he wouldn't be so affectionate to the point that it was starting to drive his heart insane.

"You going to tell me what's on your mind Dunbun?"

"W-What?"

"I can read you like a book more than you can think. I'm not a dumb brute."

"I didn't say you were…just…" He closed his eyes feeling Magnus pull him closer to him. He was like a huge teddy bear ready to protect the younger male. He enjoyed this small gesture given he was usually the one doing the protecting.

"Just what?"

"…Date."

"What?"

"You forgot our date not too long ago." Dunban confessed feeling a little bit agitated the more he spoke of the incident. "You've been training with your child for so long that I felt like you needed a break. You promised that we would do something different that didn't involve our swords clashing against each other or working out together…just something relaxing…you…and me…"

Dunban knew he trailed off after those last words. His cheeks were a vivid shade of red at what occurred that day. He was probably a little thirsty for Magnus' affection and desired to have him for one day. The samurai had no problem with the angel child that belonged to Magnus. Rita was a bright individual who had a lot going for him. Pit may have been a harsh trainer when it came to training the angel children, but Pit felt like he didn't need to watch out for Rita that much because the kid was incredibly obedient to his elders. He did everything told therefore Pit felt like he could trust Magnus and Dunban to look after him when Pit was training the older angels. Because Rita was a child, he couldn't go on the more dangerous angel missions. He was fine with that as long as he could improve himself. The nature angel was a precious child that Dunban had to wonder how someone as sweet as Rita could be the son of someone as rough as Magnus.

Still…even if Rita was obedient, he was clingy to Magnus. With some awkward dialogue originally due to Magnus not wanting to admit that Rita was the child that he failed to save, the mercenary found it a losing battle to reject Rita when Dunban was slowly getting into the role of a parental figure again. It made sense too because Shulk, Fiora and Reyn were technically adults that didn't need him watching over them anymore. Rita would be a child for a long time, but he still had the mentality of an adult. It was easier for Dunban to fall back into the role only with the knowledge that the light green haired angel would not grow up physically. It was a screwed up mind-set to have, but it put him at ease.

And because Rita desired a father figure (and didn't mind two…even though he did consider Gaol as his mother figure), he took a lot of Magnus' attention away from everyone else. This was just the one time Dunban would be selfish and put himself over the little boy.

Unfortunately, that nasty incident occurred involving those blasted demons and there was no way to get that date because of it.

"Sorry…the date slipped my mind."

"I know…I'm just disappointed it didn't happen. It was not your fault. I just picked a bad time."

Magnus just smirked as he pulled Dunban closer into an embrace.

"How about this. When you get better, we'll go on that special date. Just you and me. Rita will be with either Pit or Viridi."

Oh how he would love that…but…

"But what about your injury?"

Dunban felt like that was the wrong question to ask. At first Magnus didn't respond, but he was immediately met by a ferocious kiss.

"Mmm! M-Magnus…" Dunban cried out forcing himself to break away from the kiss. "W-What are…mmm!"

Magnus didn't want the older Homs to be talking. In his mind, Dunban was thinking too much. He was the one that needed to relax and he was the man for the job.

"Shh…it's okay. Don't say anything. Just surrender yourself to me. You wanted this for a while."

"I-I do…but…"

The situation got heated rather quickly with how Dunban found himself resting his head against the pillow and Magnus on top of him. His resistance was getting weaker the more the older male kissed him. Dunban didn't want to admit that kisses were his ultimate weakness. One kiss and he was a goner. He just wanted to be swallowed up at this point. If he could just hold onto the back of Magnus' neck, things would be perfect.

Magnus wasn’t going to allow him to get that sort of satiation easily. The older male forced him into a position where Magnus reined control of the situation. If it were any other person, they probably would be a little worried given how powerful Magnus was. Dunban in comparison had shameless dreams of the older man dominating him. He would never admit this to anyone especially himself. That might be why his heart was in pain.

Now, there was nothing stopping Magnus from having sex with him. No Smasher would come into the room (hopefully), no child and no injury.

The mercenary was quick with his hands tearing open the infirmary outfit given to him. Dunban had to wonder when he was changed into this, but he didn’t need to question Dr. Mario. It didn’t matter now with his bare chest exposed. The lower portion of the outfit would soon be torn and thrown to the floor. Magnus was wasting no time with getting to the best part. 

“Umm…shouldn’t you…prepare…”

“You prefer it rough. I see it in your eyes.”

Dunban would have preferred him being gentle, but he didn’t mind the concept of rough sex. He obediently spread his legs for the older male with his only concern being the pain he was going to feel when Magnus’ cock drilled into him.

“You look nice from this position.”

“…Shut up and put it in…I don’t want anyone walking in…” Dunban murmured softly his cheeks turning red with the demand.

A small laugh caused Dunban to avert his eyes from the older male. His heart was starting to pound when he felt Magnus position himself. He shut his eyes feeling the tip of the mercenary’s cock at his entrance. He bit his tongue when Magnus inserted his penis inside. Try as me might; he couldn’t stop the small moan from escaping his lips.

“Ahh…”

“Are you doing okay, Dunbun?”

“D-Don’t call me that…” The Homs muttered weakly before trying to position himself just a little so he wouldn’t feel the pain. “This hurts…more than I thought it would…”

“Tell me when to move.” Magnus reminded him. The muscular male slowly leaned down to place another dominating kiss on his lover. “I’ll be gentle if that is what you want.”

Dunban was too caught up in the kiss to care for the speed. He felt his entire body jolt when Magnus moved without telling him.

“I-Idiot…you said…ahhh!”  
  
Magnus chuckled as a response as he indeed moved slowly so Dunban could adjust to the position even more. When the older male picked up the pace, the younger male found himself losing to the pleasure that Magnus was giving him. Magnus was so close to him. His eyes, his scent, his penis…everything that belonged to Magnus was Dunban’s now and he relished in his own lust. Magnus’ grunts were getting progressively louder while Dunban found himself no longer being able to hold his voice in. If anyone walked in, there would be no way to weasel out of the situation.

“Magnus…” Dunban cried out as he reached out to hold the taller male close. It was then did he notice the weird feeling he had at the beginning of this romantic event.

Dunban was able to wrap his arms around Magnus’ neck while he was being screwed into the mattress. 

That was the problem though. Dunban was able to do just that as Magnus screwed him into the mattress. His shoulder would normally cause a strain if he tried to do anything like this. The only explanation to this is…

“No…it’s a dream…” Dunban murmured to himself as he let out a weak cry when he finally allowed himself to climax from all the thrusting he was receiving from the older male. “Then…”

“Dunbun, what’s the matter?” Magnus asked as he tried to kiss him again after pulling out when he expelled his seed into him. Dunban turned his head away to avoid his lips. “Did I do something wrong?”

"…This isn't real…not only are you the injured one…but I'm not injured on my arm…and there would be no reason for me to be injured in a Smash match…so many contradictions."

Magnus frowned seeing the Homs resisting him now.

"Why would you want to leave if it were a dream? You're getting what you want."

"…You're not Magnus." Dunban growled as he used the strength he would not have in the real world to shove the older man off. "You're not the one I want to…"

"…But it's a terrible idea to return to the real world." Magnus warned him.

"I don't care. I'm not going to let you take me…" Dunban mumbled weakly before starting to stand up. "I'm sorry…I can't…"

"…Suit yourself."

Dunban immediately saw the Magnus in front of him evaporate into the same substance as what the souls stuck in the wall now were. His eyes widened in horror feeling his entire body. He was starting to lose the power to move any part of his body. The only thing that he still had control of were his eyes…and his vision was failing him again…

* * *

Dunban realized immediately after returning to reality that he would have been best off in the dream world. Reality wasn't being too pleasant with him now especially since him getting caught by those two stuffed dolls was real, and they were having their way with him.

Unknown to Aldra, these two demons had been slowly regaining their true form allowing them to create body parts they lost when forced into a stuff doll. Belphe had Dunban's hands tied behind his back while forcing the samurai to sit in between his lap. Dogor was the one that was leading the main assault going as far to create a recognizable penis. Unfortunately, it wasn't that hard therefore he had to resort to his tongue and using his long arms as tentacles instead. It hit Dunban what was inside of him this entire time and it wasn't Magnus' dick.

"Oh, he woke up." Dogor stated. "Should have stayed in that trance."

"We apologize for screwing you in that state." Belphe said in a somewhat mocking tone. "But your voice is irresistible and we still got a few hours before turning you into Mistress Ala."

Dunban couldn't find his voice. How could he? He thought he was in the safe arms of Magnus this entire time! He never left the Slavic Underworld and the cold reality hit him like a brick that he would never see Magnus again.

"Oh he's shaking." The frog doll continued while continuing to wrap his tongue around Dunban's legs. "We actually scared him. So much for having no fear or regrets."

Dunban never would have expected for his mind to shut down in a situation like this. If he were calm, he could think of a way out seeing as how these dolls were treating him as some defenseless prey. He really was though with how his immediately reaction when he did regain his voice was to scream and attempt to kick Dogor off his leg.

"Son of a bitch! Don't touch me!"

Once these dolls attached themselves on Dunban, they weren't going to let go. Belphe suddenly bit into the side of Dunban's neck causing him to scream in pain. Why was this hurting in the real world when Magnus in his dream was making him feel so good?

"You really need to calm yourself." Belphe warmed the Homs in front of him while licking the blood off his teeth. "We might accidentally tear you apart before its time to give you to Mistress Ala."

"He's just as delicious as the Madam!" Dogor declared now using his arms to spread Dunban's legs apart. "Is this because his soul isn't quite dead yet?"

"Possibly. Mistress Ala is obsessed with him more than the other delicious souls here."

"Such a waste though. Whomever this Magnus person he was calling out missed out on such an important catch."

Why didn't he have any strength left to fight these stuffed animals? That was all they were and they put him in this humiliating position. If he gave them anymore time, they would definitely regenerate their penises and they wouldn't be filled with cotton either.

"Don't treat me…like an object!" Dunban growled as he slammed his legs together the minute Dogor tried to rest himself in between them before head butting Belphe to get him to let go.

"OWW!" They cried out in union as they started wobbling around giving Dunban just a little bit of time to get away from them.

There was only one problem though. They had injected enough poison in his body to prevent him from moving too far. These two dolls had everything planned out from the beginning and Ala was assisting them from afar. The minute Dunban tried to run, he felt his legs give up on him.

"D-Dammit…"

The demons stuck in the doll didn't take it well to being struck so suddenly. Dogor already used his long hands to grab at Dunban's feet preventing him from moving (and if he did, he would trip).

"You will not escape."

Belphe repeated the same action using his long hands to grab at Dunban's arm and hoist him up into the air.

"You want to do this the hard way. We can give you something hard." Dogor declared having his tongue wrap around Dunban's dick and give it a few licks.

"N-No, stop you fiend!"

Belphe meanwhile only stuck out his tongue to lick behind Dunban's ear only at certain moments to get him to freak out more at the sudden coldness he was feeling.

"I think it's finally done." Dogor announced. "We can finally begin!"

These two demons were relieved that their dick managed to form in this awful body Aldra gave them. It was a strange cross between their demon form and their doll form forced on them. Both demon cocks were huge and hardened, and given they had been tormenting Dunban while disguising themselves as Magnus in the process its no surprise they were ready to take him.

“Open wide, please.” Belphe begged even if it sounded more like an order. “You desired this.”  
  
_I don’t. Not with you._

Belphe ended up lowering Dunban closer to the ground so he was bending over. Dogor found this easier to go over to Dunban’s whole and probe his entrance.

“D-Don’t!” Dunban cried out.

The small opening was enough for Belphe to shove his dick down his throat.

“Biting won’t do you any good. The benefit of still being a stuff toy is we don’t feel anything.”

“Hee-hee, while you’re doing that. I’m going to take you for real this time!”

Dogor happily shoved his cock inside the older Homs’ hole with no preparation whatsoever. The green frog already assumed that with how much he licked his entrance and probe it with his tentacle arms that he was already good to go, but the size of both demons were too much for Dunban to handle.

“Gnng!”  
  
“Relax. It will all be over soon.” Belphe mocked as he started to thrust inside him with Dogor following his lead.

If Dunban could just go back to the dream world, he wouldn’t mind being in this horrible position. At least he could imagine it was Magnus again that was fucking him and not some terrifying demons that wanted to ruin him. His entire body was paralyzed from these demons. The taste of a demon’s cock nearly caused him to gag. Dogor’s penis was shoving so deep inside him that he thought his body would split apart.

“Gnnng…”  
  
“Come on, you should be enjoying this.” The pink teddy bear told him as he stuck his tongue out to lick the tears that were forming in Dunban’s eyes. “You sounded content when you were screwing someone named Magnus in your dreams.”  
  
_Don’t remind me! You bastards…you tricked me!_

“Belphe, you don’t even have to tell him to enjoy it. He is enjoying it. Look! He’s tightening and adjusting, just for me! He’s even moving on his own!”  
  
_I’m not…I would never…_

He couldn’t stop the tears from flowing now. If anyone saw him like this, they would think that Dunban broke way too easily. Dunban wasn’t as strong as he wanted people to believe. Fiora knew he cried rather easily and was an incredibly sensitive person. Something like this would affect him gravely. The fact that he wasn’t having sex with the person he might have been falling for was just icing on the cake.

“It really is a shame.” Dogor said sadly as he suddenly hit Dunban’s weak point causing his head to jerk back. “Whoever you were thinking of just lost an incredibly fuckable person. This warmth, your reaction…oh is he an idiot!” 

“He knows how to use his mouth too.” Belphe added noticing that the color in Dunban’s eyes was fading away the longer this went on. “He must have done this before willingly. We should not feel bad as demons.”

“Whatever. Since we can’t do this to the Mistress, we got the next best thing!”

It wouldn’t be long before Dunban probably started to hallucinate who was raping him. Thinking about Magnus was all he could do to keep himself sane, but there were still too many flaws with picturing Magnus. He pictured the muscular male holding him gently while inserting his large cock inside. He wanted Magnus to allow him to hold him close while begging him to keep hitting his sweet spot. He wanted to kiss Magnus and tell him something important. 

_Magnus help me! I can’t do this!_

“I am very close. Prepare yourself.” Belphe warned Dunban who blocked him out at this point.

“Oh, I’m cumming alright!” Dogor added as he thrusted harder and faster. Dunban gave into the pleasure and let himself moan into their thrusts. Their tentacle arms and tongues continued to violate every part of his body demanding that he too climaxed with them. He was slowly not starting to care anymore. No one was going to save him. Magnus wasn’t there…

_Magnus…I…_

“CUMMING! I’M CUMMING!” Dogor exclaimed in an exaggerated manner as he planted his seed inside Dunban. Because he was a frog that was known for shooting acid that looked like semen, he sprayed Dunban’s back with said acid just to make him appear more lewd. 

Belphe was quieter when announcing his climax. He asked Dunban to drink every last drop and wouldn’t pull his cock out until he did. Dunban slowly nodded his head as the hot fluid poured down his throat. When demon’s climaxed, they came in buckets to fill one person up for a week. When Dogor pulled out, semen was still pouring out of the samurai and onto the ground. Dunban had problems drinking the sticky substance due to the quantity given to him. Belphe showed some mercy and pulled out but ended up squirting him in the face.

The pleasure was too much for Dunban as when the two were ready to change his position, his cock gave out on him and he came mostly over his stomach. Both demons wanted to look at Dunban’s pathetic state as he passed out on the ground of demon semen.

“We’re not done!” Dogor prepared. “We’re going to keep playing until you are ready to surrender yourself to Mistress Ala!”

When the two demon dolls were done playing with Dunban, they merged together to reveal their true form. The samurai could only turn his head slightly to get a glimpse of the true horror that was haunting him in this Underworld. His eyes widened as he pathetically tried to grasp the rocks in front of him hoping he would gain some traction and be able to crawl away, but it was no use. He was at their mercy now and they were ready to have their meal.

"Magnus…help…" Dunban cried out for the older man again but knew it was pointless. He wasn't here to save him and would never save him.

Dunban could feel those tentacles grab at his limbs again. His struggles were fruitless at this point as he just closed his eyes trying his best not to look anymore pitiful to his enemy.

"DOWN THE HATCH!"

The samurai should have been lucky that they were not allowed to chomp down on their victim. Ala clearly stated she wanted him back alive, so they would just have to settle with the feeling of eating someone but not digesting him. Dunban let out a horrible shriek as he saw nothing but darkness after the fused demon swallowed him whole. The two demons were still a stuff toy, so all they could do was keep him in a pouch filled with fluid that was meant to sexually arouse their victims before eating them. It wouldn't do much, but make Ala's life easier when the timer ran out and she decided to have her fun with this Homs' soul. Slowly, the terrifying demon walked back to where Ala and Aldra were waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 5000 words. Notes!
> 
> 1\. I admit that Belphe and Dogor sneaking up on Dunban was inspired by the jump scares of Five Night's at Freddy with how they're up in his face and pretty much knock him out in the process.
> 
> 2\. Dunban's arm is injured due to wielding the Monado. This is stated at the very beginning of Xenoblade Chronicles. He can still move his arm but anything concerning his shoulder like wrapping his arms around Magnus will hurt him. This is a sign that he's in the dream world where nothing hurts him (despite being injured according to Ala's failed dream world).
> 
> 3\. Belphe and Dogor having a true form stem more from how their name is based on Belphegor. I'm implying that they can combine into one demon even though there is a not so official picture of what the two look like when not dolls. Regardless, they still are dolls even if they combine into one terrifying demon and when they eat something, they use it as a pouch instead of digesting the person (although the fluids inside of them might as well be aphrodisiac).


	4. The Final Hour (Running out of Time)

It must have been at least two hours since the rescue group wandered through Nav. This place was huge. Palutena had underestimated the size of an Underworld that did not belong to Hades. Normally, she would be able to pinpoint a location and just send Pit there, but when you were traveling in an underground dimension to get to this different hell, it was going to be a long, boring walk.

What made things worse was how Pit started complaining about being tired and started nagging Magnus to carry him. It was embarrassing for the captain of the royal bodyguards to need any assistance. Pit was use to marching, but his short legs had his limits. Shulk rolled his eyes seeing Magnus complied. The only reason Airi wasn't exhausted was because she was mostly floating. She would tease Pit about how pathetic he was resulting in the white angel warning her that when he hits a growth spurt, he's not going to need a piggyback.

It was rather insensitive of Pit to ask with how Magnus' arm could be injured again just from carrying the white angel. Pit was rather dainty to Magnus though, so it wouldn't mean much. Heck, sometimes he carried both Pit and Dark Pit on opposite sides of his shoulders around the mansion if they asked. Just now though…he felt like he was being weighed down just a little. Dunban's life was on the line and the angel captain didn't appear to take things seriously.

"Magnus, I'm serious. I need all the energy I can get when fighting this Goddess." Pit reminded him. "Besides Shulk, I have the highest chance of slaying her if needed."

The mercenary nodded his head acknowledging this fact, but it didn't change the scowl on his face. Shulk honestly didn't know how Pit could pride himself of being the strongest angel only to falter after a few hours of walking. If the blond, wished it, he could have just ran ahead and left everyone in the dust. Unfortunately, not only was he not receiving any visions but also he wouldn't know where to go. Everything looked identical in this underground cavern, so he needed to search and identify any patterns.

But after all the walking, complaining and surprising lack of battles in this place, the group finally made it to a familiar ground where Airi can point and tell the group, "Mistress Ala is up ahead."

Pit finally got off of Magnus' back as he decided to stand in front of the group like he was the one leading it from the beginning. Both Airi and Shulk really didn't like how Pit wanted to take command after the stunt he did back there. Shulk noticed that Riki was acting strangely.

"Riki…is something the matter?"

"Riki sense something…"

"What is it?"

Riki didn't get a chance to respond because everything immediately started to shake. Airi urged everyone to take cover behind a nearby rock. Shulk moved a little too quickly as Riki almost fell off his back. When they hid behind the rock, they could see a huge demon approaching. This demon was tall enough that the horns on his head almost hit the ceiling. This demon was brown, lanky with an unusually large belly and had a long brown tail. There were some uncanny features to this demon such as the sharp teeth mixed with ears that looked more like a teddy bear instead of the usual pointy ones that demons were known for having. This demon had a long tongue that kept slipping out of his mouth like a serpent. The eyes of the demon were not focused and appeared to be buttons that would occasionally revert to normal eyeballs to scan the area before stomping slowly ahead. Pit noted that there was cotton falling out of its back like it was a stuffed animal.

Shulk had to cover Riki's mouth before he would catch the monstrous demon's attention. While it appeared ferocious, the strangest thing about it was how the demon was talking to itself. Words such as "soul", "Ala", "Aldra" and "eat" could be deciphered between their muffling and grumbling. The blond sighed in relief (along with Pit) when the thing disappeared into the darkness. Once Shulk let Riki go, the little Heropon let out another shriek.

"Airi, what was that thing?" Pit questioned with his voice trembling. "That looked like something that came out of Five Nights at Freddy's!"

"You play too many video games…" Airi told him with an annoyed tone. "To answer your question…I have no idea. It looks like a doll but…I felt a weakened soul in it…"

That really wasn't useful information that the group could use. Magnus had already decided to follow the thing seeing as how it was going in the same direction they were supposed to be heading in anyway.

"M-Magnus wait up!" Pit called out as he chased after him.

"Angel face, we don't have the time to play the stealth game any more! We need to get to Samurai, now!"

Truth be told, Magnus was terrified now. His chest started pounding when Airi brought up that there was a soul inside it. In the back of his mind, he had this nagging feeling that Dunban was inside the monster. If so…they might be too late.

* * *

Aldra was horrified at Belphe and Dogor returning to her almost in their true form. When she summoned them from the Netherworld, she made sure to take extra precautions with the demons not turning on their summoner and stuffed them into a toy. Maybe because they were in one of the many hells in the universe that they were able to achieve such a feat, or maybe they were just waiting for the opportunity to transform. Regardless of questions that would be left hanging, Aldra could still see that even in their true form that they were still tied to the stuff doll.

"…Where is the soul?" Was the first thing she asked seeing how both Belphe and Dogor were laughing at their achievement.

"He's inside." The huge demon answered. "He tasted delicious!"

"I thought you weren't going to kill him!" Aldra suddenly shouted threatening to punish them severely for disobeying orders.

They feared Aldra when she was like this so the demon took a step back.

"Madam Aldra," Belphe could be heard speaking through the demon doll, "we did not eat him in that sense. We simply took a taste of his soul before we swallowed him. In this body, we cannot eat any substance like normal. We can run our tongue on them though. His soul is simply delicious. It is ashamed that we have to give him back to Mistress Ala when the timer is up."

Ala was far from pleased with how they went ahead and did a taste tester. She had better plans for Dunban's soul, and she needed it in perfect condition. Looking toward Aldra, the half-demon was expecting the Goddess of Nav to give her back her husband. She might have done so after the timer ran out, but she felt a presence coming her way.

"I can sense sweet, little Airi." She hummed looking in the direction of the entrance. "Welcome back to my Underworld, dear!" She didn't have her eyes open when she greeted the wraith so she didn't realize that there were other people behind Airi when she approached. "Oh? You brought friends?"

"I am just doing my job as a guide." Airi grumbled. She was glad she caught up to Magnus and told him to stay behind her. The redhead would make a better impression than a human storming up to Ala and demanding for Dunban's soul. "Plus…"

Ala was more upset about the angel that was next to Airi with a bow pointed to her face. He meant business and the same applied to the two aliens and the large human who was looking around for something or someone.

"Really, was this many people necessary to come visit me? I don't give tours of Nav."

"Who needs a tour?" Pit asked ready to shoot Ala on orders of Palutena. "We're just here for the alien soul that you took without our consent!"

"…And you are?"

Airi let out a huge sigh realizing that Ala set herself up for a Sailor Moon like introduction from the light angel. Pit smirked as he lowered his bow just to introduce himself.

"I'm glad you asked! I am known far and wide as Pit! Captain of the royal bodyguards and servant of the great Lady Palutena! Prepare to meet the light!"

There was a magical girl pose, Shoujo sparkles and everything. Both Airi and Shulk shivered at what Pit just did. Palutena could be heard groaning in the distance.

Aldra thought she heard that name before. Whenever she heard angels flying above overhead, she could hear them bring up a name of a male angel called Pit. He apparently had a reputation amongst these particular female angels of his strength and handsomeness. Seeing him in person, he looked like a teenager who has yet to hit puberty yet. They called him an experienced adult, but she wasn't really convinced from looking at him.

"Oh…you're that angel that's the talk of the town." Ala mentioned doing a fake gasp toward Pit hoping to get a reaction from him. "The Underworld fears the captain of the Goddess of Light…Athena was her name."

" _Palutena."_  Palutena corrected rather quickly.  _"I'm glad that Goddesses like you remember me at the very least."_

Ala could hear Palutena as if she was part of the group and smirked. "How could anyone not know about the heroine who sealed the Great Evil away 2000 years ago? I hear he's going to return again very soon. What could you be doing in my domain when you should be preparing for a nasty war?"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?!" Pit asked not liking being mostly blown off by this demonic Goddess. "We're here for the alien soul that you took from Smash Brothers Mansion!"

"Angel face, Samurai has a name." Magnus grumbled.

"Neither of you call Dunban by name…" Shulk said with a sigh. If Pit wasn't going to negotiate, he would. "Excuse me, you are called Mistress Ala. Correct?"

Ala finally took notice of Shulk. She could tell immediately he was of the same species as the man she took.

"I prefer to be called Ala, if someone like you were to address me." She teased. Shulk was rather oblivious to her flirting though.

"…According to the God of the Underworld, Hades…you are the one who snatched Dunban's soul away from him. We would request you give Dunban's soul back to us."

"Can't do that sweetie. He signed a contract that will expire in a few minutes." She hummed. "What kind of demon contractor would I be if I let him go without a fight?"

"Riki sense Dundun!" Riki exclaimed floating a little above Shulk's shoulder for emphasis. "Dundun is in this room!"

Shulk restrained himself to see which direction Riki was facing in. The blond Hom had officially drawn the Monado that was slowly changing color. This due to Shulk secretly desired a fight to save Dunban's soul alongside Pit.

" _Shulk, you need to be cautious of how you use the Monado here."_  Alvis finally spoke to the seer through the Monado.

_I know that Alvis…I'm reluctant to use the Monado III but…I might not have a choice._

Once the Monado changed completely to a blue shade, he pointed the sword toward Ala. "Where is Dunban? Answer me."

"Oh, my target? He's off in dreamland where nothing is going to hurt him. Don't worry. Unlike Hades, I treat my guests well."

"That's a load of bull…" Airi growled. "There's no peace for the dead in this realm…"

"And Hades…treats his souls better by?"

"If Hades doesn't eat the souls in large amounts before he met that weird Goth girl, then yes he treats them better." Airi had to explain to Pit who refused to admit that Hades had slowly changed for the better (or at least to where he wouldn't bother the human realm unless needed.

"I'm hurt." Ala whined but didn't refute Airi's claims that she treated her souls worse than Hades (and that was hard to believe for Pit anyway).

"…I will ask one last one time. Tell me where Dunban's soul is!" Shulk demanded feeling his calmness slip away the longer it took to get an answer from her. She was doing this on purpose. Every minute was one step closer to the four hours being up. Palutena probably knew how much time was left, but if she rushed the rescue group then they might have done something reckless as Shulk was going to end up doing when that demonic doll spoke for Ala.

"I ate him!" Dogor spoke through the doll. "He tasted so good! His struggles inside now are delightful. He needs to struggle more and feel the pain!"

Dogor did that just to get a reaction from Shulk. The blond reacted too well to the taunting. Shulk's eyes flared up in rage as he charged toward the demon doll without taking Alvis' warning. Belphegor had every reason to freak out seeing a large blade nearly slice him in half. Shulk wasn't expecting that half-demon to intercept his blade with a paddle though. If it was anyone else, they might have felt the power of the Monado. Aldra was different though. There was a reason why Aldra was the Queen of the continent in her realm and held the title for two terms before losing it to Leina Vance (who foolishly gave the continent's rule to her older sister Claudette).

"Impossible…" Shulk muttered in disbelief.

"You can't kill him!" Aldra exclaimed. "You'll kill the friend you're looking for inside!"

Aldra was only protecting Belphe and Dogor in order to insure that Dunban was not killed. If she lost him, that meant her husband was in jeopardy.

"Put your sword down." Aldra warned. "Or I will hurt you."

Shulk refused to stand down. His friend was confirmed to be right in front of him. They were running out of the time, and even if Alvis was telling him to listen to the half-demon, he wanted to just push her aside and find a way to save Dunban. Alvis was forced to give Shulk a vision after holding back this entire time. The vision wasn't pretty to say the least. If Shulk kept going, he would not only destroy Aldra's summons, but he would indeed slice Dunban's soul in half preventing him from ever finding peace.

Ala just laughed seeing Shulk jumped back completely shaken by the random vision.

"I put him in a safe place, so he wouldn't be able to escape." The red-orange haired woman stated. "You think I would just let him walk up and leave?"

With this information in mind, Pit and Magnus could not easily just rush Ala or Aldra and expect good results. They needed to do something quickly or Dunban would be lost to this Underworld forever.

"Lady Palutena…please do something…"

" _Sorry, Pit…my powers can't reach that far. Besides, I only have enough strength to transfer the body. If I give you anything, then we still risk losing Dunban…"_

Ala laughed even harder hearing the Goddess of Light speak.

"Ha-ha-ha! You have no power here, Athena! Guess the heroine of 2000 years ago isn't so great after all!"

"…Take that back…" The angel captain growled. Airi who knew what to do in this situation only held him back.

"Pit, don't let her anger you. This summon is not hard to break apart. It's pathetic really." She told him as she held her scythe in front of her. "I apologize in advance Mistress Ala, but I really do not have time for this."

The lesser spirits came out of her psyche and immediately rushed toward Belphegor. The spirits grabbed a hold of the demonic doll and held him down causing the demon to growl in retaliation. The demonic doll its hands ferociously trying to break away. Aldra looked away only for a second to call out her demon companion's names for Shulk to simply push her to the side. Airi followed up after having her spirits hold Belphegor down. Shulk feared that her attack would kill Dunban, but the way she swung her scythe allowed her to force the two demons apart rather than actually cut the demon in half.

"This is not good." Belphe stated as he fell to the ground like a rag doll.

"NO! OUR TARGET!" Dogor whined.

When they were forced apart, Dunban's soul that was held in an odd bubble burst causing him to fall on the ground as well. Both Shulk and Magnus felt something in their heart burning with rage seeing the state he was in. Only a few hours had passed and he was brought to this weakened state where he was breathing heavily and was unable to stand up. His clothes were completely gone at this point leaving his body at the mercy of the chill of this Underworld.

"DUNBAN!" Shulk called out as he rushed to his father figure. Magnus ran toward his friend immediately as well. "DUNBAN!"

Magnus was fast enough to be the one to immediately lift him off the cold ground. Pit might have suggested that he wait, so he wouldn't injure him further, but the mercenary had that look in his eyes where he would do all in his power to save the person he cared about without thinking about the minor details.

"DUNDUN!" Riki called out before immediately following up with "You Can Do it" spell to at least heal Dunban enough to where it didn't look like he was dying from nearly suffocating inside the doll.

"Samurai, open your eyes." Magnus almost pleaded. "We're finally here…"

The older Homs shuffled slightly in the older man's arms. He groaned a little before giving a small sign that he was still alive. Airi did not please Ala with the slight betrayal mainly because as a maid, she should not be turning her blade against a powerful demon like her. Airi kept her eye on Ala along with Pit who looked above as if expecting Palutena to bring something down.

"Uhh…Shulk…Magnus…" Dunban wheezed slightly as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Dunban!" Shulk called out. "Thank god you're okay."

"Dundun is okay!" Riki added.

Magnus just smirked as a response noticing that Dunban looked at him first when he opened his eyes before turning his head toward Shulk and Riki.

"Uh…where is…"

"Don't talk Samurai. We're getting you out of here."

"Excuse me! Who said you could leave?" Ala questioned losing her composure ever so slightly the more she was ignored. Things were starting not to go her way especially since she was outnumbered. She had nothing to fall back on. Palutena probably planned the team out so her Goddess status wouldn't mean anything. Heck, Airi probably told them her weakness…

Speaking of Palutena, the green haired Goddess indeed was casting a spell on Ala, Aldra and her two demons to prevent them from moving. The spellbinding circle proved effective even in an area where she had no power. On closer inspection, the only way for Palutena to actually create an accurate spell was for Pit to loan her some of his angelic energy. Ala didn't realize that the white angel was the one allowing her to use more of her powers therefore was caught off guard when the demon-binding spell trapped her and the others.

"Magnus, now is your chance!" Pit shouted. "Take Dunban and run! All of you need to go!"

"Pit…" Shulk muttered out his name earning him a glare.

"What the hell are you waiting for? We don't have time for this! We need to get to a location where Lady Palutena can at least teleport Dunban's body to allow his soul back in! We don't have time to deal with them!"

Pit aching for a fight was a lie after all. It was only Shulk that wanted to fight this Ala Goddess. Alvis could be heard scolding him for not thinking about the situation at hand. Annoyed, he put the Monado away before waiting for Magnus to run ahead of him.

"Hang on, Samurai."

The older male again proved to be quick on his feet despite his bulky appearance. He was the first one to leave the room followed by Shulk and Riki. Airi noticed that the chains would put Pit at a disadvantage if he moved from his spot. Using her spirits, she had them increase the time the spell would last allowing Pit to move.

"Come on! You can't be stuck with her!"

"I know Airi…" Pit mumbled before they both rushed off after their comrades at the same time before the spell wore off.

* * *

The entire place started to crumble the minute Palutena managed to get Dunban away from Ala. It really didn't take much for her to lose her composure from one miscalculation. The group's attempt at trying to escape Nav proved to be pointless when Ala was in control. Pit sighed how he might resort to just knocking the Goddess out just so they could get out in one piece. Palutena simply did not have the power to just warp them out of the place. If there was another Goddess with them like Viridi, then things might have gone smoother, but that's what Pit and Palutena got for listening to Airi and bringing as few people as possible.

"Airi, I swear to Palutena if you did this on purpose…"

"Why would I try to lure myself to death?" Airi questioned rather annoyed. "I value my life and the Swamp Witch's too."

"Melona put you up to it…" Pit mumbled darkly.

"She would never betray me."

"…You have no idea…"

Their little spat was interrupted by Ala's screeching. Stalactite fell from above forcing the group to maneuver around them. They could hear something big stomping behind them.

**WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR ALDRA?! GO GET THEM! IF MY TARGET ESCAPES, THEN I WILL SACRIFICE YOUR HUSBAND, YOU HEAR?!**

Aldra's fear of her husband being used as a hostage came true. Now she would have to fight with the intention of killing if she wanted to save her dearly beloved. The kid gloves were off in this scenario. Aldra had always been the type to hold back her demonic blood, but she did not want to tempt fate with going easy because she cared for those who suffered. She grabbed Belphe and Dogor off the ground and charged after the rescue group. Her right eye glowed a crimson red that was targeted at Magnus who had Dunban in his arms. Airi only turned her head back once and saw the half-demon with Belphe raised toward them like a gun.

Belphe grumbled something about how Aldra was serious before shooting flames from his mouth. It caught the group off guard that the flame ended up splitting the group in half. Pit and Airi ended up on the left of the flame while Magnus and Shulk were on the right.

"Why can't you carry me in your breasts?" Dogor complained as he was ordered to stall the group with his acid. Due to having a lot of acid stored inside of him, he was able to save up and shoot at Pit and Airi. Pit took out his Guardian Orbitars to deflect the acid back his way but was surprised that it was strong enough to melt the orbitars from being used. Airi wasn't that lucky as she was sprayed with the acid and her clothes immediately melted away.

"W-What is this?!"

"Acid that will melt you!" Dogor declared happy to see Airi's skin exposed. She growled as she forced herself to repair the damage to her maid outfit with her wraith spell. "Hey, that's not fair! You have to stay naked!"

"How disgraceful…" Airi groaned as she pointed her scythe toward the green frog. "I'm going to take you out for that. You are a demon, so I won't underestimate you."

"I'm going to help too!" Pit declared looking at Belphe who continued to shoot flames at Shulk and Magnus. Riki let out a yelp as he almost found his fur burned. "Hey, look over here!"

Pit charged Aldra with his Upperdash Arm. The half-demon only had a split second to block with her paddle dropping Belphe in the process.

"I cannot allow you to harm Madam Aldra." Belphe spoke hovering over to Pit's face and nearly incinerating it in the process. If Pit didn't tilt his head at the last second, he might have found his face burned off with only a skull remaining.

"Damn you!"

Seeing an opening, Shulk rushed toward Pit to support him. Aldra decided to drop her weapon against Pit seeing the Monado boy as the more dangerous one of the two. Belphe covered for her by shooting a larger flame that forced Pit to step back. When the Monado clashed with the paddle, Shulk could swear that she was getting stronger by the minute. Was the Underworld the reason why a demon was so powerful? It didn't seem to apply to Airi, so why was it just her?

"Riki!"

"Yes Shulk?"

"Help Pit out. He's going to end up running in the opposite direction we need to be!"

Riki nodded his head as he jumped off of Shulk's shoulder to waddle over to Pit as quickly as he could to support the light angel. Riki casted a Freezinate Art to chill the flames that were aimed toward Pit when he was still preparing his bow, and it was only in this moment did the seer see that Pit was moving rather sluggish than normal. Did the Underworld tire him out due to being an angel or…

"Keep your eyes on me if you want to live!" Aldra spat as her sudden strength suddenly forced the Monado boy up to a rock. "I will save my husband and I will kill anyone if I must!"

"I'm sorry about your husband…" Shulk began, "but I want won't you harm my family! Magnus go and take Dunban away! You're the only one who can get him to safety now!"

Shulk didn't need to tell Magnus twice. With all the attacks aimed at him, he thought he might have taken a hit. Once he was definitely in the clear, he was free to run. Aldra yelled at him to come back and fight her but…

"Your opponent is me!" Shulk declared. "You will not pass as long as I stand!"

"Then I will have no choice but to take you out!"

* * *

Despite everyone fighting to get Dunban out alive, Magnus felt like he was running in circles. Without Airi as the guide, it really showed how little he knew about the Underworld. In general, Magnus never had to traverse the depths of hell for anything. He thought of fighting through the Underworld to save his son when the Grim Reaper originally killed him, but he didn't have the strength or courage to do so. It was a miracle how the child ended up in heaven and under the command of Pit after some hardship.

If Pit thought things through, he would have been the one to carry Dunban and have him and Magnus escape first. Palutena's connection was strongest with the angel captain, and when he was too busy fighting off that creepy demonic doll, Magnus had no way of knowing if he was going the right way or how much time he had left. All he knew was that he was going to keep running until Palutena could pull him out. She would do it without warning and save his Homs companion.

"Just hang on Samurai…" Magnus murmured as he continued to run through the caverns.

Dunban could feel his body getting weaker the longer he stayed in Nav. It wouldn't be long until he met the same fate as everyone else. He smiled weakly to himself that at the very least he was able to see Magnus' face one last time.

"Don't die on me Dunban!" Magnus shouted as he thought for a second he saw a familiar light that was the entrance of Nav from the Underworld. "We are almost out! I won't let you die on my watch!"

"…Magnus…"

Magnus picked up the paced and tightened his hold on the younger male. He charged toward the location where he was certain Palutena would be able to teleport him out to where he can place Dunban's soul back into his body. He would be sorely disappointed with how he suddenly lost his footing and found himself falling through the floor.

"What the hell?!"

Ala's laughter could be heard echoing through his ears. Magnus refused to let go of Dunban despite losing his footing. Trying to maintain balance, he grabbed onto something that resembled a stalagmite and ended up falling on his back after it broke. He didn't move originally because he noticed that there were black holes all around him that would make him fall from the ceiling.

**I WON'T LET YOU LEAVE.**

Of course things weren't going to be that easy. If Magnus had a long-range weapon, he could probably shoot everything to see if he was in an illusion or not. As it stands, he wouldn't be able to move without falling through the ceiling.

"Damn witch…why can't you stay on your throne throwing a temper tantrum?" Magnus questioned as he forced himself to stand up with Dunban in one arm and his sword in another. "Come on out if you don't want me leaving!"

**FOOL. I DON'T NEED TO COME OUT. TIME IS UP.**

Magnus thought that she was pulling his strings, but the body in his arms was getting colder by the second. Fear overtook Magnus in that split second as he dropped his sword to shake Dunban awake.

"H-Hey! I told you that you couldn't die on me! We're almost out! Don't you dare Dunban!"

Dunban found it harder to keep his eyes open. He felt his body wanting to become one with Nav. Weakly he reached out for the older male's hair and ran his hands through his hair.

"Dunban!"

"…Sorry…I don't think…I'm getting out of here…"

It was sheer power alone that prevented Dunban from becoming a soul without a physical form. However the fact still stood when Magnus witnessed the samurai's body became as transparent as a ghost.

Time was up and Dunban's soul was lost to the Slavic Underworld…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 5800 words. Notes!
> 
> 1\. I was told by Aria that because Shulk is in a foreign area that he would change his Monado I (the one he uses in Smash Brothers) to Monado III (depicted as a blue sword) when dealing with Ala and the Slavic Realm due to not knowing how powerful another realm is. I decided that given Shulk's status, he can change his sword's appearance and power at will so it can switch colors depending on what Shulk wants the Monado to do.
> 
> 2\. Aldra being able to stop Shulk's strongest sword stems from me thinking that Aldra is one of the stronger characters in the Queen's Blade universe. I feel like angels and demons can match the strength of an alien rather easily (and I think I brought this up in Your Homs is in Another Castle). The biggest criticism of Aldra's Rebellion character is how she appears to be stripped of all of her powers that made her a badass villain in the original series and there is a lot of truth to that given the series fails to explain her amnesia or why she fell in love with her husband so quickly enough to marry him. I feel like the original Aldra while I loved that interpretation of her more was held back by something that prevented her from using all of her powers so while she is de-powered in a sense in her Rebellion incarnation, the kid gloves are off allowing her to do unconscious tasks such as blocking a god slaying sword with a paddle.
> 
> 3\. The idea of Palutena using Pit to project magic onto her opponent comes from how I think that since she's loaning Pit the Power of Flight that she could pretty much use his entire body as a weapon if she desired. I do think that consent is needed for something like this to work correctly. Since Pit is loyal to Palutena, he would allow her to do whatever she wants and in this situation, he's simply a palm item to her shooting Ala, Aldra, Belphe and Dogor with a spell that binds them in place.
> 
> 4\. Every time spent talking is actually time wasted so while it seemed like there was plenty of time, the reality was that there wasn't and the mission was pretty much doomed from the start. Fortunately, there's one more chapter left and that one will be a super duper long one (the length people are use to reading).


	5. Overclock Mode (The Time of Love is Now)

If there was one thing Magnus hated about himself was how he had a bad habit of failing those he cared about. He hasn't exactly had a good track record of keeping promises in the past and it had given him hardships as a result. When things got tough, he would blame the Gods for his problems when he could just look at himself in the mirror and see that he was the problem.

Gaol had told him multiple times that unless he fixed this character flaw that he was going to continue being hurt in the future. He already experienced this when he lost Rita to the Underworld. Pit never explained to him how he was able to find his child's soul. Rita suffered from amnesia therefore cannot remember anything from his past life to what he was doing before he ended up in the Skyworld orphanage of children. Pit only took him in originally because he had potential as a royal bodyguard (and the fact he was nagged by the royal bodyguard Pepper to help her take Rita and the other royal bodyguard Ginger in), so it never occurred to him to ask Rita on his backstory.

In general Pit had been the miracle that prevented Magnus from screwing up too badly. Pit was the reason he was able to save Gaol from the Underworld as well when he was ready to kill her after she had slaughtered many humans under the control of the Underworld. He might have done that to Pit too if he didn't tell him while in the ring that he had no control of his body.

But this situation is different. Magnus had allowed Dunban to die. He didn't watch him close enough and Dunban's soul was snatched. He never bothered asking about Dunban's past despite venting to him about his own when confronted with Rita and he was too slow to get him out of Nav in time.

 **OH, DON'T LOOK SO SAD. I WILL TAKE GOOD CARE OF HIS SOUL.**  Ala could be heard taunting as she slowly appeared in front of Magnus. He was ready to cut her down, but it would be pointless. Even if he killed her, that would not change that Dunban's soul was tied to Nav now.

"You got to be kidding…" He growled as he gripped Dunban as tightly as possible feeling that he was losing his hold on the younger male. His body was becoming more transparent by the minute and that meant that he would just be a hovering soul. "Dunban…don't…"

Dunban was given a small ray of hope, but it was yanked from him the minute he thought that he could escape. He resigned to his fate of being stuck here knowing at least that he saw the person he wanted to see one more time. The Homs didn't like how Magnus looked like a kicked puppy ready to shed manly tears for him. He wasn't worth crying over.

"Magnus…" He spoke feeling his voice was leaving him. "…Please get out of here with everyone else…"

"W-What?"

"…I am not worth it." Dunban lamented. "I…already messed up in my youth. I don't want anyone…to be hurt because of a mistake I did…I'll accept my fate."

"That's absurd! You didn't do anything!"

"…I wanted to live." The Homs admitted as he felt his mind fading away. "I wanted to make sure Fiora lived. I felt…like it was my duty…it is fulfilled though…she is happy…and safe…I know she is. I…"

Ala chuckled seeing how Dunban was all hers now. She ended up using her magic to take out the very contract the samurai signed in his youth. Magnus looked up and wanted to snatch it out of her hands. If he ripped it up, would Dunban's soul no longer be bound to Nav?

"Do you see this contract human? Your little Homs friend signed this with full knowledge of what he was getting into." She smirked. "The only way for this contract to ever be nullified is with the Power of Love…but we all know that doesn't exist."

"Don't talk down on him…" Magnus growled. "Even if you take his soul…I'll kill you so you won't be able to torture him."

"You can try. I am immortal like most of the Gods." The demon contractor teased before reading the contract out loud. "I, Dunban hereby resign the ability to reincarnate into another life. This I resign unto Ala, and in return I will be granted the strength that I require to protect those that are close to me, in particular my little sister Fiora. This strength given to me will include the ability to manipulate elements such as wind and electricity, sometimes at a cost to my own health or safety. This contract will be terminated at the first sign I am no longer strong enough to even protect myself or when Fiora no longer requires protecting. This contract may be nullified if I find someone that will romantically love me in life, but this will only work if the other party reciprocates my feelings. This factor will only be applied if both I and my partner or partners share these feelings with one another, even if they are not outright stated. If I have not found anyone that will reciprocate any feelings of affection I have for them, or I do not return the feelings of another by the day of my death, my soul will be forfeited to Ala and she will use my soul in any way she then pleases."

Magnus could go on a tangent about how the contract is biased and should be burned into a fire like hell, but that wouldn't change anything. He was only human, so it would be impossible to reverse the contract. If only Pit was here or if he could get in contact with Palutena, she might find some sort of loophole.

"Dammit!" Magnus cursed seeing Dunban fade away. "Dunban, I'm so sorry! I couldn't…"

"…No…it's…my fault…" Dunban murmured weakly. "…My only regret Magnus…is not…asking you out…on a date…" He sighed in defeat thinking of everything they could have done on that one date. "…Would have been…nice…"

There wasn't anything Magnus could do at this point. Even if he registered that Dunban was reaching out to him in his last moment in a weak proclamation of love, it would achieve nothing.

"Well, I guess the soul is mine now." Ala said. "Come to mama, and then I can be generous and let your friends leave unharmed…if Aldra didn't kill them already for her precious husband."

The minute she said that though, a katana impaled her through the chest. It even reached the contact where now there was a big hole in the middle. Her eyes widened in horror because she could see blood dripping from the sword after it went through her. She claimed immortality but she could still bleed especially if it was another divine being stabbing her from behind. Magnus was just as taken off guard as Ala was as she let out a cry before the sword was pulled back. Her human form fell to the ground immediately unmoving even if she could still communicate with her Underworld.

**W-What…  
**

"I'll be taking that contract now."

Magnus glanced who was the one brave enough to stab the woman he hated with a burning passion and was surprised that it was that same Goth girl that technically acted as Hades' messenger.

"The Goth chick?"

" _THAT IS JULIET!"_

Well, Hades was making his presence known when Juliet snatched the contract from Ala's hands. She glared at the contract she ran her katana through and was ready to slice it into pieces.

 **What…are you doing?** Ala questioned threatening to lose her temper again.  **You cannot destroy the contract…**

"This is a fraud." Juliet told her firmly. "You cannot take the soul when the contract has indeed been nullified."

That was news to Magnus. "What?"

Ala couldn't believe a single word this newcomer said. Juliet sighed realizing she would have to explain to Ala in simple terms what she was talking about.

"You underestimate the Power of Love. As the Guardian of Love, I can see the red strings of fate on every living being. For you to try and sever the bond between two lovers is a crime against love."

**What stupid red strings of fate do you speak of? There is nothing.  
**

"…Only the Goddess of Love and those she grants the power to can see and manipulate the love around them." Juliet continued explaining. "This contract interferes with my job especially since you are attempting to violate your own contract."

Ala obviously had no idea what she was talking about…or maybe she did but didn't care if Dunban failed to notice the error. Juliet shook her head as she laid out the truth in front of them.

"This line right here.  _ **This contract may be nullified if I find someone that will romantically love me in life, but this will only work if the other party reciprocates my feelings. This factor will only be applied if both I and my partner or partners share these feelings with one another, even if they are not outright stated.**_  Sounds familiar?"

To Magnus it made no sense. He may have been observant, but something like this was going over his head. Ala hissed at what Juliet was suggesting.

"You…" Juliet spoke looking toward Magnus who was still trying to best to hold onto whatever was left of Dunban before he completely faded away. "You love him."

That came out of left field for Magnus. "W-What?"

"The red strings of fate is not just tied to you and your beloved…but it's like a handcuff that can never be broken. To attempt to break it is a crime against love."

Magnus really had no idea what she was talking about now. However, if he searched deep within his heart, he would understand what she meant.

"Me…in love…"

 **Don't be ridiculous! There is no love between either of them!**  Ala yelled.  **Give me proof that there is love instead of you making stuff up on the spot!**

Juliet walked over to the two men and placed her hand on Dunban's chest. Even if he was completely transparent at this point, the white haired Guardian's magic allowed her to reverse the effect that was forcing Dunban to be bounded by Nav. The thumping of a heartbeat resonated throughout the area. Magnus' eyes widened feeling that it was his own, but listening closer Magnus realized that it was both his and Dunban's heart beating in harmony.

"Look deeply inside your heart and you will know that love has always been there."

In the back of Dunban's mind before he nearly fell into absolute despair, he knew it was love. Ala's hypnotism forced him to acknowledge it. He just couldn't convey these feelings to the older male in fear of rejection. Every little thing they did together from training with each other to Dunban being a taste tester for Magnus' cooking brought them closer together. All the problems he had from Bionis from being betrayed by his closest allies to not having a male figure to vent to also contribute to the Homs falling for the mercenary. Magnus may have spent more time talking about his past in the Overworld, but Dunban could tell that Magnus had no one to pour his heart to besides Pit…and all Pit could do was give him back Rita as an angel. Dunban was never good with romance, so he just kept it to himself until now.

As for Magnus, he probably had feelings for Dunban for a while now. Besides Pit, Dark Pit and probably Ike, there wasn't anyone in the mansion he could bond with being an assist trophy and all. He didn't care about making friends as much as he was making money so he can send it to Gaol back in the Overworld. After a tragedy struck there not too long ago (and Pit ended up taking one of his comrade's back to heaven and making her one of the royal bodyguards immediately afterward), Gaol needed all the money she could get to rebuild the town that was attacked by the vicious mob that wanted to break away from Palutena. Dunban (and Chrom admittingly) were the odd ones in the mansion and were easy to communicate with. The more he hung out with the raven haired Homs, the more he wanted to be near him and protect him. That was probably why he jumped at the chance to be on the rescue team. Maybe it was his ego talking, but Magnus wanted to be a hero and succeed this time around after failing to save Rita or Gaol in the past. To be told that his love for Dunban could actually save him…

"Without love, the truth cannot be seen." Juliet states with a small smile on her face. "With that knowledge, the contract will be nullified. You love him."

"…I…" Magnus paused as he felt a powerful force allow him to continue holding Dunban in his arms. "…Do…"

Dunban would get Magnus later for the older male pulling a Sleeping Beauty right there. Magnus leaned down and placed his lips on the weakened male hoping that something would come out of this random action. His lips were chapped and cold…almost like he was kissing a dead body now…but Dunban wasn't dead. His heart was still beating and it was still resonating inside of him. When their lips met, the orange color of the Underground was blending with red, white, purple and pink colors, almost killing the orange. Ala could be heard screeching feeling the power in her Underworld being drained because a contract was burning up in the flames of love.

Magnus let go of Dunban who was being levitated by the colors of love. The magic that Ala had injected in him due to the curse was being forced out of him. Dunban would be disappointed if he were to try to fight again and found that some of his Arts were gone because of what was going on now. The samurai's body was quickly returning back to a physical form before the magic would eventually give up and he would fall to the ground if Magnus did not catch him.

"Dunban!" Magnus called out immediately shaking him. "Dunban!"

"...Mag…nus?"

Magnus had a huge smile now seeing the younger male open his brown eyes. They were still dull from his near death experience, but he was alive.

"…Thank the Goddess…she actually created a miracle for once…"

He was mainly referring to Juliet even if she wasn't a Goddess of any sort, but the thanks were apparent. The white haired Guardian continued to smile before turning her back to the couple. She looked up hearing the God of the Underworld making fake sobbing noises.

"Lord Hades…what is the matter?"

" _I wasted one hour of my immortal life on this soap opera, Juliet dear! How can I possibly get my precious sixty minutes back?"_

"…I honestly think it was longer, but I will refrain from insulting your lack of telling time." Juliet was looking around and grumbled. "Lady Palutena, how long are you going to ignore Lord Hades' presence?"

Palutena could be heard grumbling. Magnus could not hear her at all due to his lack of respect for her (and being human contributed to this too). She was trying to warn him that Ala was coming after the two, but there was nothing she could do without Pit there to translate for her. She was still surprised that Hades of all people would back her up after feeling like she failed everyone, but she still had a job to do. She just needed Dunban to be on higher ground so she could transfer his soul back into his body.

"Lady Palutena…it would be nice if you brought the body down now." Juliet spoke. She tapped her foot impatiently implying she had been talking for the last couple of minutes. "Lord Hades can assist if you're having problems."

" _I have a hard time believing that Hades is here to save the day."_  Palutena grumbled.

" _Oh, you know me Pretty Palutena. Days was worried sick about Pitty, so he nagged me until he wasted more of my precious time."_

"Not really, Hades. You just wanted to grab some souls here if you could that wasn't that Homs over there." Juliet corrected causing Hades to fake cry at being outed. Palutena could be heard groaning knowing that Hades wasn't here out of the kindness of his heart.

While the two ladies were mocking Hades, Ala was slowly regaining her form and transforming into something more terrifying than her human form. Juliet only noticed at the last minute when the entire cave shook from the weight of the transformation. The Guardian of Love only had a split second to guard her front before something large slammed into her katana sending her flying against the cave wall.

"Gruh…"

" _JULIET!"_  Hades suddenly called out. He probably surprised himself when he did and going above and beyond to use his powers to cover the Guardian of Love with a purple barrier that would prevent that large object from slamming against her stomach.

Ala had morphed into a dragon filled with absolute rage.

 **I WILL NOT BE MOCKED IN MY OWN HOME!**  She roared causing the stalactite to drop near Magnus and Dunban. Their reunion would be cut short because of Ala's main target being they.  **YOU THINK YOUR LOVE WILL SAVE YOU FROM MY BELLY?**

Palutena still couldn't reach them even if she tried. Hades didn't have the authority in another Underworld, so he couldn't do anything (and that was if he got off his lazy ass to support anyone else that wasn't Juliet). Magnus cursed to himself for losing himself in the moment and not paying attention to Ala. Ala did say she wouldn't die that easily. Even with his blade, he wasn't going to be able to slice her head through the middle and save the day. Not if he didn't want Dunban's soul to be hurt in the progress.

"Magnus…leave me and run…"

"Never. Even if I die here…I'm not leaving you alone."

Dunban could only cling to Magnus' arm weakly closing his eyes waiting for the inevitable. Magnus' attempt to swing his blade indeed failed seeing how Ala was over the both of them with her mouth open. If she chomped right there, Magnus would have been without a head. Instead, he decided to roll into her so she would swallow them both whole without chewing them. It would take longer for anyone to die by this process, but they weren't leaving any time soon.

"Oh no…" Juliet murmured as she tried to stand up but didn't have the strength to do so. "Dammit…my legs…"

Ala didn't bother turning around and eating Juliet when there was a barrier protecting her. She would go back to her later when she ate the others that were fighting up ahead. Palutena could only gasp at the realization that Pit and the others were in danger.

 _"What are you doing, Juliet?! Get up and warn them!" Palutena_ exclaimed before she was already hurrying to try and regain communication with Pit.

* * *

The time may have run out but Aldra's husband was not returned to her. She would keep fighting even if Ala would not return her husband to her. Pit and Airi had already dealt with their opponents. Having experience with demons, Airi was able to subdue Dogor with her spirits hovering over the green frog. He cursed and struggled underneath her heel but he wasn't going to get free to attack. If he tried to move his tongue, Airi would slice it off.

With Riki's help, Belphe was toppled over allowing Pit to sink his foot into Belphe's stomach preventing him from moving from his spot. He made sure that Belphe's face was smacked against the ground, so he wouldn't be able to shoot fire from his mouth if the white angel let his guard down. There was a debate whether Riki should freeze the red bear or not, but Pit decided to leave it alone.

Shulk finally got the advantage over Aldra after struggling to be on even ground with her. She was a difficult opponent due to the demonic energy flowing through her. The blond stopped speaking to her once he realized that he wouldn't get through to her and focused on subduing her. Instead of going on the offensive, Shulk focused on parrying all of Aldra's attacks. Her rage prevented her from seeing that the Monado boy only needed to tire her out before he disarmed her.

" _Shulk."  
_

"I know, Alvis. She's wide open!"

Aldra let out a shriek the minute Shulk disarmed her by simply smacking the blade against her hand. If it were anyone else, he probably would have accidentally chopped her hand off. Her half demon status gave her protection against something as simple as that.

"Ahhh!" She shrieked as she was immediately met with the Monado blade to her neck. If she moved, he would not hesitate to decapitate her and that was the last thing he wanted.

"There is no more need to fight. You have lost."

"N-No…my husband…if I don't keep fighting then…"

She was looking toward her weapon despite the Monado being pointed toward her neck. Shulk wondered if she had no disregard for her life if she were to jump and grab the paddle. The blond expected her to do that hence he shifted the blade as a warning.

"We will help you."

"How would you help me?! You are trying to save your own family!"

Shulk spoke up before Pit interrupted him with the obvious rejection answer.

"We are capable of helping you. Ala is our enemy too."

Ala wouldn't believe Shulk's words so easily. Pit cursed the Monado boy out when he lowered his weapon against her. This was her opportunity to grab her paddle, but she kept her eyes gazing at Shulk's instead expecting a surprise attack.

"…Pit…"

The light angel rolled his eyes when Shulk started using this tone against him. "What?!"

"Can you have Palutena pinpoint where Ala is? We can focus our attention on her since Dunban is safe."

"How would you know?" Pit asked rather annoyed. "…Is it your vision again?"

The Monado boy would have spoke, but he felt the ground rumbling below his feet. Since Airi was floating above the ground, she didn't feel the tremble. Pit gasped when he heard Palutena's voice suddenly scream in his ear.

" _PIT! GET OUT OF THERE! SHE'S COMING!"_

The white angel was quick to look behind him to see a huge dragon approaching. The dragon had its mouth open ready to take a bite out of the person who was in its way.

"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Pit cried out as he rushed over toward Shulk and Aldra and pushed them both to the ground just before the dragon flew over them and tried to eat them. Riki had fallen off at that moment leaving Belphe free to float and shoot flames again. He didn't want to see the dragon going after anything that was considered tasty and he didn't want to be on the menu.

By saving the two, Pit ended up in this awkward position between both of them especially Shulk who blushed feeling Pit's crotch against his butt. It was a miracle that the Monado wasn't cutting Aldra, but she was put in an awkward position too with Shulk's head in between her breasts no thanks to Pit.

"G-Get off…" He groaned knowing full well if he got up that the dragon might sink its teeth into his chest. If it bit the Monado, the teeth might shatter (but he really didn't want Alvis to complain about damaging the sword in this situation).

"H-Hey! It's not like I want to feel your ass!"

"T-Then stop moving so close! This is not necessary!"

The dragon flew right over them anticipating one of them to sit up. Airi faded out quickly before the dragon reached her, but she could only do it so many times without making herself vulnerable. For a moment, Shulk saw another vision that wasn't Dunban and Magnus being safe (and even then he didn't see that they just got eaten). He now had a vision of Pit crying out to Airi who got cornered by the dragon and met a horrible end despite being a wraith. The blood was oozing everywhere and Palutena was begging Pit to not lose his temper. If things kept going, Pit would be impaled by the dragon's claw.

"Ala, what are you doing?!" Aldra questioned in a demanding tone as she pushed both men off of her with her sudden strength. "I can handle them on my own! I will save my husband and I will not let you try to go back on the deal!"

 **DEAL, WHAT DEAL?! I WOULD NEVER GIVE BACK YOUR HUSBAND WITH YOUR TYPE OF PERFORMANCE!** The dragon screeched causing Pit and Airi to cover their ears at the sudden sound that vibrated in their ears.

"W-What…but that's…"

Pit was more concerned with Airi now who Ala was targeting now. She faded out a second time. The battle with Dogor and just traveling to Nav had worn her out. She needed to feed on someone soon if she wanted to sustain her appearance, but since she chose to disappear at will to avoid being hurt, she was at a threat of vanishing for real…that was if Ala didn't take a bite out of her first.

" _Shulk…you're not…"_

Shulk knew he was being risky when he got up with the Monado in hand.

"I will change the future, Alvis!" Shulk proclaimed while charging toward the wraith and pushing her out of the way. "This is the Monado's power!"

How reckless of him to swing his blade at the huge dragon. He has fought difficult ones back on the Bionis and wished to avoid fighting any dragons in the future (and that included Charizard despite not being classified as a dragon). Ala wasn't a dragon though. She was a Goddess and simply slicing at her teeth wasn't going to stop the demon of Nav in her tracks. All it did was prevent any vision of being bitten be shattered. Ala screeched when her teeth were sliced cleanly off.

 **DAMN YOU PUNY ALIEN!**  She roared before she recovered rather quickly to attack him. Shulk was able to dodge a few moves but the agro was complete on him. He was sweating bullets realizing that he probably should have thought things through…but the desire to save someone (especially Pit despite his utter dislike for him) overcame the desire to think logically. The only thing he could do was put up the Monado Shield when she opened her mouth wide when he realized he could no longer dodge her with the position he was in without her going after Pit.

"SHULK!" The angel captain called out as he witnessed his rival being swallowed whole by the Slavic dragon. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

" _PIT!"_  Palutena yelled causing him to flinch.  _"You need to get everyone out of here or she'll eat you all! She already got Dunban and Magnus, Pit! We need to come up with another plan!"_

Pit was blinded by rage in that moment and ignored his Goddess' orders once he registered that the person he was trying to save and his beloved friend was also eaten. He did not realize how stupid he was charging. With no teeth, she couldn't chew him into bits and pieces, but she had the claw ready to impale the light angel.

_"PIT, NO!"  
_

" _ **Oh, hell no! You're not going to be impaling him!"**_

Another voice that wasn't Palutena or Hades entered the fray. Ala could hear him and the minute she did, she immediately found herself frozen in place by dark metal bars that shot out of the floor. Pit stopped in his tracks recognizing the magic by the musical notes that were hovering around the black metal bars.

"Dad?"

" _ **Pit, what the fuck were you thinking?!"**_  Daedalus questioned in a very angry tone. His voice sounded strain, but judging from the cage he was using to keep Ala, it was apparent he was using his magic all the way back in their realm to keep the Goddess of Nav in place.  _ **"You need to retreat and form a plan! You're not going to let everyone die here, right?!"**_

Hades could be heard snickering in the background. In the Underworld, Hades' backup plan while Juliet was rushing toward the others was to allow Daedalus to use his powers all the way in the Slavic Realm. It would not last long especially with how exactly they were going about the spell in the first place.

"Dad…are you…"

" _Oh Pity, you can take your time. I enjoy the sexy pose Days is giving me now."  
_

Pit didn't want the mental image of a Holy Pose being used on Hades so that he could transfer that magical power all the way over here…it wasn't even a Holy Pose…it was an Unholy Pose…

" _ **S-Shut up Hades! I am not losing my concentration because of you! H-Honestly…stop giving me that look! Unholy Pose: Control!"**_

Ala struggled to get out of the cage she was confined in, but she felt that someone was invading her mine and almost forcing her to return back to her humanoid form. If she were to turn into a snake, she would have gotten out quicker, but then she would be at the mercy of the light angel in front of her. During this time, Riki had rushed back over to Pit and hopped onto his shoulder as if telling him that he shouldn't be careless even if Shulk was just eaten in front of him. Aldra had also regained her composure and quickly went to pick up Belphe and Dogor. Ala's refusal to keep her promise would result in them not wanting to fight her enemies. Airi shivered as she forced herself to regain her form with her clothes still intact.

" _ **Pit…run to Juliet. From there…Palutena and Hades will take you back here. We will think of a plan…to save the others."**_

"G-Got it!"

Pit shivered hearing his father let out a yelp that sounded like a small moan. What the hell was Hades doing to him?! He'll joke about it later as he ordered the girls to run in front of him.

**YOU…WILL NOT…ESCAPE…**

Aldra and Airi ran past Pit before he followed after them. The cage was getting weaker as Ala clawed at it.

They met Juliet halfway and immediately noticing that she was limping. Would she be okay?

" _ **Palutena, Hades, now!"**_

Light and darkness covered the remainder of the group as the Goddess of Light and God of the Underworld attempted to take them back to Smash Brothers Realm. Ala was not having any of that though. She suddenly broke out of the cage causing everything to tremor again before using her magic to flash the entire room with magic to counter the teleportation spell. Normally, those who were trying to warp someone out of her realm would feel the burn, but Daedalus had redirected everything to him when he was using his magic to hit her.

On the other end, Daedalus wasn't use to this type of pain and struggled to at least maintain some control over Ala. Well, if it was physical pain, he would be able to handle it, but he could never get use to anything that became sexual. As a result, he let out a huge cry that sounded like something else entirely the minute he lost control of Ala. This distracted Hades enough that the warp spell lost the power to send them all straight to the Smash Realm. Palutena cursed to herself that all they could do was send them to the human world of the Slavic Realm.

* * *

Suffice to say, the Slavic human world was now in danger of being invaded by a furious Goddess of the Underworld wanting to claim more souls to seize her anger. Pit was expecting them to be back in the Smash Realm, so seeing that they were in a segregated area in the Slavic human realm confused him. The girls and Riki made it in one piece although Riki had to get off of Pit so he could heal the pretty Juliet from her injury. The angel captain was more concerned with Daedalus who could be heard panting loudly in his head.

" _What a day! First I deal with a romantic reunion and now I have to deal with a woman's temper tantrum."_ Hades complained. He was sarcastic as usual, but there was a hint of frustration in his voice for technically being the reason why things weren't going so smoothly.

"Hades…what happened to my old man?" Pit asked rather concerned for the fallen archangel.

" _He's not dead, don't worry. Although, I am liking what's going on now."_

_**"D-Dammit…Hades…this isn't…funny…ahh…hah…"** _

The dark archangel was completely out of breath. He wouldn't speak until he regained his voice. On that side, it was humiliating to say the least for Daedalus to be clinging to the Lord of the Underworld after that Unholy Pose and the sudden pain that Ala gave him as a result of it. His face was crimson red as he ended up burying his face in his boss' chest.

"Don't tell Pandora…" He pleaded in almost a whisper that only Hades heard. "I messed up…"

If Daedalus had any strength left, he probably would have slapped Hades' hand away with his awkward attempt at trying to comfort his old archangel friend. It was a miracle that either Pandora or Medusa was around to witness this. Juliet was probably imagining what was going on and rolled her eyes in disbelief.

The white haired Guardian thanked Riki though for patching up her leg so she wouldn't be such a burden.

"Riki is glad to help pretty girl!" Riki exclaimed. "Now friends can save Shulk and others!"

Ala was working her way to the human world ready to attack those who escaped. They needed a plan before she found them.

"Lady Palutena, any ideas?" Pit asked worryingly. "There doesn't seem to be too much time to think before Ala comes out of the ground. Airi, how long will it take for Ala to digest those souls?"

"I give it an hour." Airi murmured. "If the soul is powerful, they might be able to resist a little longer."

" _I expect Shulk will be able to protect any souls that haven't been digested yet,"_  Palutena began,  _"but I don't think he'll last long depending on how the inside of Ala is."_

"Are you suggesting all Gods have another dimension as a stomach?"

Hades laughed at the idea, but he must have been a special case.

_"We need to turn her back to her human form and force her to regurgitate."_

"Regurgi…what?"

"She means Mistress Ala must puke out those she has eaten." Airi explained rolling her eyes when Pit gave her a disgusted look. "I prefer the idea of just blowing her up from the inside out. She's a Goddess now, so she won't die from that and it would probably be better than being ejected from the mouth for those inside."

" _But I like Pretty Palutena's idea better. We get a waterfall of souls that way."_

"Hades…you are gross…" Juliet grumbled to herself. Hades heard her and continued laughing at his poor joke. "Daedalus, hopefully you have a plan."

Daedalus didn't want to make up a plan when it required everyone's cooperation. Pit still had issues listening and if Palutena was already here, there was no reason for him to actually come up with something.

"Please, you have to help my husband!" Aldra begged causing Pit to flinch. For a moment, he forgot she was still there. The half-demon was on the verge of tears because of being put in a helpless situation. Her husband was still nowhere to be found, but she was starting to think that maybe Ala ate him and there was still hope to save him…but she might be alone. "I don't know what to do without him…"

"Calm yourself." Juliet told her calmly. "If your husband has been eaten, we will save him. Daedalus."

" _ **Uhhh…don't nag me."**_  Daedalus growled as he finally got off of Hades. His face was still a dark shade of red.  _ **"My idiot son needs to cooperate with me here."  
**_

"Argh…fine…what is it old man?"

" _ **Pit, you'll only get one shot. I'll…channel my power over to you. You need to shoot your arrow into Ala's mouth when the opportunity comes. She might realize what the plan is and avoid doing it at all cost. This is why I need Juliet and Airi to serve as the bait. You girls need to keep her eyes away from Pit while I'm transferring my power over to him. I also need one of you to open up her mouth either willingly or unwillingly. For this to work, it has to go straight into her and cause her to rot from the inside out."**_

Pit was trying to imagine how that would work. If he shot an arrow, he would have to curve it into Ala's mouth. He would imagine a light arrow would simply go through her body instead of blowing her up from the inside out. Whatever magic Daedalus was going to do to enhance the bow must be something…

"Holy Poses?"

_**"Unholy Poses…"** _

"…Honestly dad, I think you only came up with this idea now is because you're a pervert."

" _ **What?! Who do you take me for? YOU?!"**_

"Well, you are my dad so…"

Hades' laughter stopped Daedalus from digging his grave any deeper in terms of his secret perversion. After cursing under his breath, the fallen archangel continued his explanation.

" _ **Pit, the reason for this plan is because you already wasted the Power of Flight on this idiot God over here! If it weren't for that, you could just do your normal air game and shoot until she explodes. The previous Unholy Pose has weakened her and Juliet did destroy her human form once. If it keeps happening in rapid succession, then she would lose her form completely. However, since that is not the case due to circumstance, it has to be one huge blast from the inside of her."**_

Now Pit had a better image and snickered. Daedalus gave up trying to reason with his son at this point.

_**"Do you understand the plan?"  
** _

"Hopefully you have the endurance to make my bow powerful enough for it to happen in one hit. I wouldn't want to disappoint a Goddess with my skills."

" _Pit…please cease your innuendos at once."_  Palutena could be heard groaning.  _"I'm getting a headache."_

"Sorry, Lady Palutena."

" _ **Airi, are you okay with the plan?"**_  Daedalus questioned the redhead.

"…It's a hassle, but what choice do I have? That alien did save my life. I don't like owing people favors."

" _ **And you Juliet?"**_

"I will need Lady Palutena and Lord Hades' cooperation for me to perform at my best."

"What about Riki?"

"… _ **You can stay in the back with my son and watch over that half-demon. Not everyone needs to be involved…if Pit misses, I do hope you will make yourself useful."**_

"Riki will do whatever is needed to save Shulk and friends!"

Pit chuckled nervously realizing that his father might order Aldra to treat him like a tennis ball. The Heropon was oblivious to him being demoted as a weapon should plan A fail.

Hades wasn't that thrilled with Juliet acting as the bait. If he had his way, then it would just be Airi and then him opening up a portal with the Underworld army having her back. Juliet would be right next to him and Daedalus where it was safe…

" _I wonder why I would even let you do something so dangerous Juliet."_  Hades said out loud while pouting.

" _Perhaps the old Hades is truly falling in love again."_  The green haired Goddess teased.  _"And that's a good thing because it means less souls for you and the primary focus is now love and tolerance."_

" _Nope. Not me. Nuh-uh! Days, get everything ready."_

Daedalus could be heard grumbling about his boss being bossy again.

" _ **Everyone, you all have five minutes to yourself. Start preparing. When I'm done, I want you all to be in positions!"**_

Airi could not believe she was still helping Pit and the others after she achieved her mission. Her only order was to take them to Ala, but she ended up playing hero and now she had to save everyone again. Sometimes she wondered why she was such a nice person for a wraith. Every other wraith would have backstabbed Pit the minute he let his guard down. She was only doing this in the name of duty…since now she technically worked under Pit's fiancé instead of the Swamp Witch.

Pit wouldn't leave her alone either. Palutena was kind enough to give her and Pit time alone and even Hades was going over the plan with Daedalus and Juliet. It wouldn't be long before Airi had to fly off and distract Ala, so right now she had to tell the white angel what he needed to hear.

"Pit…you do realize that there is nothing between us, right?"

The brunette ignored her statement. He ended up hugging her from behind causing her to give an irritated sigh while trying to hold in her blush.

"Oh, don't be like that Airi. If you survive, I can give you a victory smooch."

"…Angels are toxic to us wraiths." She reminded the light angel while slightly pushing him away. "That's why nothing has come of us together…if I was any other demon race, I might reconsider but I will not die in the name of love. That almost happened once before, and even if my prince's annoying archangel friend won't stop chanting about love I cannot give myself to you."

"I'm sure the Golden Land can find a way to-"

"Pit, they'll tell you to talk to Laharl. He is the only one for you."

The angel captain let out a sigh of defeat as he let go of the redhead. He really didn't like being reminded of his future marriage. Even if they were all to die before then, it will get to the point where one timeline the Great Evil will be defeated and he will have to marry that bratty overlord.

"I'm going to get ready. This might be the last time I help you Pit." Airi warned him. "After that, unless my prince tells me otherwise you will be my enemy."

"…And I don't think you can convince that brat to change his mind?"

"He's stubborn. You know that."

Pit rolled his eyes as the light angel left the maid's side to get in his position to shoot the arrow. Airi went over to Juliet who already had the plan memorized.

" _ **Don't mess this up."**_  They could hear Daedalus warn them.

"Who would mess up a simple plan like yours?" Airi asked harshly as she flew off into the distance to distract Ala while Pit got ready for the attack.

Juliet waited for Hades to create a path for her once Airi had distracted Ala enough.

" _I should just give you grind rails."_  Hades said simply.  _"Pretty Palutena does it all the time!"_

" _ **Hades…just make a path…"**_

" _I like grind rails better."  
_

" _ **What is the god damn point of a plan if you don't follow it?!"**_

_"I think you should be more concerned about yourself, Days."_

If it wasn't apparent yet, then it is now. Similar to Palutena, Hades was capable of shrinking himself to a normal "human" level. When he was in his actual castle, he took an appearance that wouldn't bring the entire place to the down. All the Gods were able to enlarge or shrink themselves depending on the situation and Hades found it easier to remain a giant. Juliet had nagged him though that she felt like he wasn't listening when he was as big as an elephant (a similar insult Viridi used in the past) so Hades complied and shrunk.

Hades would not admit the benefits of being this size again. It meant he could speak to other demons normally. Medusa tolerated him more when he wasn't killing and resurrecting her. Pandora was completely devoted to him for whatever reason and Thanatos could actually prank him (and it would fail miserably since Hades wasn't that stupid). The best part though was how he could hold Daedalus and Juliet in his arms without having that nagging feeling the back of his mind that he could squish them accidentally.

Not to mention, Hades had his own chambers and could lock it when he wanted to be alone. It was already locked when he was communicating with Palutena and the others, but he had to open it for Daedalus to leave for a bit and come back. The God of the Underworld rolled his eyes at how Daedalus brought his Orb Staff from one of the many weapon rooms. Hades' army in particular did not need any weapons, but Daedalus had insisted on a room with them once he came back to him. Daedalus was a claw user and wasn't much of a fighter anyway, so he found it pointless. The use of this staff though…

"Why would you need a staff when you have something better?" Hades teased with his usual grin.

"…I am doing an Unholy Pose…I am not trying to turn you on…"

"Too late for that, Days."

Daedalus wondered how much Hades was teasing him and how much it was genuine. He sighed as he turned around to start one of the two poses. He only wanted to do one of them, but for the main pose to have more power, he had to do this one first. Taking a deep breath, he ended up flexing one leg and started chanting a spell. He closed his eyes trying his best to ignore that Hades was staring at him.

"…Can you not look? You have Juliet, or are you doing this because Palutena brought up the reality of the situation?"

"What? I thought you weren't doing it right. Aren't you supposed to wear something more revealing?"

"If he did, Daedalus would die of embarrassment. Right now, blood is going straight to his cheeks from simple observation." The robot Tinker spoke. Daedalus stopped the pose immediately realizing that the thing wasn't off and growled. Sometimes he wondered why he would make an annoying robot as an ear piece.

"What the hell, Tinker?! Why can't you stay off?!"

"You programmed me this way in case Diamond ever tried to take advantage of you again."

Daedalus shook his head as he pressed a switch on the robot. He just wanted to leave that timeline behind him. Never again would he have to worry about escaping to Diamond and Mecha Galaxy. Raven had rewritten things so that old man would not remember the horrible things he had done and would die in vain. Scars are forever though and Daedalus had put up with his abuse with him for so long that even if he trusted Hades more than he should, his body continued to react badly.

The fallen archangel forced himself to focus again flexing his leg. His body glowed while chanting allowing the magic to take the form of a black orb that he could easily use to replace the one on the Orb Staff. Putting his leg down, Daedalus went over to Hades before turning his back toward him again. The staff was jabbed into the floor to where the orb was the one pointing upward. His body shook as he lowered himself slightly on it.

"It's more effective if you took your underwear off."

"I know that!"

"Pitty would probably be mad at you if you didn't give it your all."

"That's his problem, and you're more concerned about Juliet anyway!" Daedalus shouted before the staff was kicked away from him nearly causing him to lose his balance. "W-What was that for?!"

"…Daedalus…how do you expect to get over your problems when you turn your back on them?"

Daedalus flinched when Hades used that serious tone of voice. Everyone forgot Hades was capable of being a serious God, but it gets glossed over for his bad jokes and overall toxic attitude of how he saw things.

"…It's my problem…" The fallen archangel mumbled weakly even though he heard Hades stand up from his throne. "I can handle it myself…"

He yelped feeling Hades lift the lower part of his tunic and rip off his underwear.

"If that's the case, then do the pose correctly. Pitty may be a brat, but he does need you for this."

"…Stop bringing up my son…you're more concerned for Juliet."

"And you're not concerned about what Pandora will think if you don't do the right thing."

"I…" Daedalus sighed in defeat realizing that arguing with Hades was pointless.

"Unholy Poses are the exact opposite of Holy Poses. You of all people should know that."

"…"

Hades went back to sitting on his throne anticipating Daedalus to submit to his whims. Its not like he had a choice. Taking the dark orb from the Orb Staff he gave it to Hades who placed it in his lap. Daedalus shifted his eyes slightly not wanting to do this pose.

"Well, it will work when you're ready to take a seat."

"God dammit, Hades! Why would you place it  _ **there**_?!"

"Well you just need something that resembles a stick, right. This is good."

"…Whatever."

Daedalus continued to tremble as he put himself in a position ready to lower himself down.

" _We're ready now!"_  Hades shouted after radio silence in the Slavic Realm.

Pit had already charged the arrow and could already feel a little bit of the dark energy that was being transferred to Palutena's bow. In the past, Pit might have hesitated to allow black magic to hit him, but he learned that it had proven beneficial. He may have hated his dad, but he trusted him enough to deal with this situation without backstabbing him.

Airi had caught Ala's attention quickly summoning her minions to cover her eyes. Since Hades was taking too long to assist Juliet, Palutena was the one who gave the Guardian of Love grind rails to grind on. It was faster than Juliet just running on a path given to her although Juliet preferred that because she thought she gained better momentum while running. She was rather surprised how easy it was to use grind rails. She just needed to position herself so she would be able to jump on Ala's head when the grind rail ended.

Before reaching the end of the rail, Juliet closed her eyes searching for where the souls would be inside Ala. She only needed to locate Magnus and Dunban to be able to locate all of them since she could only find those with a powerful red string attached to them. It should have been apparent that they were in the belly region of the dragon. She could have easily just asked Airi to slice open the stomach region and be done with it, but that wouldn't save all the souls plus Ala would still be able to move around.

Airi yelped when she was nearly grabbed by Ala's claw.

**YOU THINK YOU WILL BE ABLE TO FLY AWAY FOREVER? I WILL EAT YOU TOO.**

"You can try Mistress Ala, but I'm good at dodging." Airi taunted as she flew to the left of the dragon just so Juliet would be out of the Goddess of Nav's blind spot.

Juliet jumped off the grind rail with her katana held above her as if she was ready to impale Ala in the head. However, on closer inspection of the Guardian of Love's weapon, one could see a chain attached to it making it more of a chain sickle. The katana portion was thrown to wrap around Ala's horns so she would be able to grip onto her head.

**OWW! STOP PULLING ON ME!  
**

"Open your mouth…" Juliet ordered causing Ala to immediately thrash about trying to get the little girl off of her. "This will end the moment you open your mouth."

 **YOU JUST WANT TO BE EATEN! OKAY! I'LL EAT YOU ONCE I EAT THAT TRAITOR!**  Ala declared as a snake/tentacle like hand formed from where her belly was to grab at Airi's leg causing her to scream when her movement was suddenly halted. Airi was immediately thrown into the air and then grabbed by the snake arm again. This one was wrapped around her waist almost causing Airi's boobs to squeeze out. She groaned in pain as she struggled to break free. If she had the strength, she would have simply faded away to get out of Ala's grip, but this Shapeshifter was smarter than that.

"Dammit…" The redhead cursed to herself. "Not this shit again…"

Pit could see what was going on from a distant and for a moment lost his concentration.

 _"Pit, focus!"_  Palutena shouted.

"Sorry…I just…I might hit Airi…"

" _Pit, you have no equal when it comes to the bow."_  The Goddess of Light reminded him.  _"You cannot possibly hit Airi with your aim."_

The brunette knew that…it's just that he was worried that Ala would notice the arrow from far away and move Airi so it would go through her. Airi always feared Pit's arrows because he was capable of killing her in one hit. Any demon would want to avoid an angel with that sort of power given how many demons he had slaughtered in the past.

The Guardian of Love was failing to open Ala's mouth. Airi wondered if the same tactic she used in the past would work on the Goddess of the Slavic Underworld. The circumstances were similar but Ala had a working mind that would not be fooled by such tricks unlike that one heavenly monster that Nanael and Laila summoned hoping to find the Swamp Witch.

 _There is only one way to find out._  Airi thought to herself as she spread her legs apart. Her cheeks were the same color as her hair speaking the next set of words. "You want to a taste Mistress Ala? I'm giving you a taste right now!"

Hades wanted to laugh at the readers for thinking there was anything too perverted with him and Daedalus. For the full effect of Unholy Pose: Pain to work required one to lower themselves on a staff or a cylinder object and concentrate on their target. In Daedalus' case, he needed Hades to give the Underworld magic to Palutena's bow. Daedalus wanted to use the Orb Staff to make things less humiliating but bouncing even a little on Hades' dick got the same reaction. The dark orb might as well have been a condom. In Hades' mind, to have full power, you would need to mimic the sexual act rather than making a half-ass attempt with a weapon. Suffice to say, Hades was probably more turned on than needed with Daedalus letting out small moans while chanting the spell in the angelic language.

"You really are a masochist, aren't you?"

"S-Shut up…I curse…ahhh…falling…Pit…" His voice cracked when he tried to communicate to his son confusing him greatly.

"Dad, what's wrong?"

 _ **"Don't worry about me and fire now!"**_ Daedalus shouted as he pushed himself to his limit. He had finished chanting and failed to maintain his voice now that the dark energy had generated below him. The fallen archangel disliked the way Hades was holding both of his hands on opposite hands of his waist so he could keep the momentum going, but now it felt like Hades was doing something else. "H-Hades…d-don't even…"

His voice was drowned out when Pit had his eyes on the target. The negative energy was so strong that the light angel felt tempted to fall just to absorb more into his body. Seeing Ala's mouth opened wide due to Airi's sudden bold actions caused Pit to shoot the arrow toward her in one clean motion. The arrow while big was easily curved zipping through the sky and actually going through the snake like arm causing Ala to drop Airi in that split second. The arrow went all the way down her throat to where Juliet predicted where Shulk and the others were. In the dead center, the arrow simply disintegrated before unleashed a powerful blast that caused Ala's dragon form to roar in pain. Throbbing in pain, she jerked her head so much that Juliet had to jump off. She needed to anyway to get away from the massive explosion that would soon follow. Airi was unfortunate to get caught in the blast, but it wasn't an explosion that would kill someone like her and it certainly didn't stop Pit from calling her name out when the explosion created a large sphere over the horizon.

"AIRI!"

Daedalus would never admit how powerful Pit has gotten with each timeline. In the past, Pit needed weapons made by Dyntos to stand a chance against a divine being whether it was the Three Sacred Treasures or the Great Sacred Treasure. Now he could take out a Goddess with just one well-timed hit with his arrow combined with the dark magic. It would get to the point where he could take on the Great Evil with the right preparations. If the universe didn't die so quickly then they might have a chance of defeating the Great Evil once and for all.

Ala apparently ate a lot of people within the recent week and not just the Smashers just now. When her body exploded, everyone that she swallowed whole got sent flying into a disgusting pile of a weird creamy liquid. Daedalus wanted to think it was blood, but the coloring made it seem like something else entirely. Why did this demon have this color when Juliet impaling her revealed blood? This was something he needed to research.

Shulk, Dunban, Magnus and Aldra's husband were all safe and sound even if covered in this mess along with the recent souls that have gotten eaten. Since they were outside of Nav, it meant they could go back to their bodies if they have yet to be buried and continue living their life without the fear of the contract.

As for Ala, even if her body exploded, her head was still in one piece. The dragon part of her was long gone and it was only her human head that had no way of moving from that spot. The arrow took all the energy out of her to even regenerate her body. Ala could only let out a huge groan seeing the state she was in. Because the head was farther from the people she held inside her stomach, Juliet was the only one who approached her in her weakened state.

"It's not fair…" Ala could be heard complaining as she stared at the white haired samurai girl. "You Greek Gods get to do whatever you want even if it's not your realm…"

"I am not of the divine." Juliet corrected her. "I am simply the Guardian of Love under the Goddess of Love Ceres. Injustice was done in front of me. I simply corrected it."

Ala continued ranting as if Juliet did not speak to her and that annoyed the petite Guardian.

"If I told the other Gods here what you Greek Gods did…then I'm certain they'll take my side and take revenge for me. They don't like being disturbed by outsiders. You stupid lot barged in uninvited and put me in this ruined state. Now Nav will not be able to function properly until I regain my body back!"

"…Why would you lie to them?" Juliet questioned forcing Ala to listen to her. "Lady Palutena and Lord Hades' group only entered because injustice was done to them. I have already told you that you tried to interfere with the red strings of fate and that is punishable by death in most situations. For me, I'm being merciful."

"Merciful? Stabbing me is very merciful…" The red-orange haired woman snarked while glaring at Juliet, "…I'm going to take that as sarcasm and I'm going to put you on my hit list when I regenerate my body."

Juliet wasn't pleased with how Ala was acting. She was the loser so she should accept defeat instead of swearing revenge. Rolling her eyes, she started to use magic that her mother gave her along with her love magic. She was always puzzled at why the magic was identical to that of the Underworld, but she never complained about it. This magic opened up a hole back into the Slavic Underworld. Ala's eyes widened at Juliet's spell.

"Lady Palutena and Lord Hades will not lose to you if you consider starting a war over love." Juliet warned her. "I will support them even if my mother won't…because I fight in the name of love and justice."

"Aren't you corny, Persephone?" She snarled darkly. "I thought you committed suicide, but I guess you came back as an emo with a hero complex."

Juliet tilted her head in confusion. "Who is Persephone?"

"…Ha ha…don't play dumb. You're Hades' wife."

"Ridiculous. I only just got to know him now…and I'm only dating him…" Juliet grumbled as she sped up the spell in agitation. "So far you have been nothing but a fibber to me…so I'm going to ignore your statement."

Ala just laughed calling Juliet "Persephone" over and over again expecting someone to respond. By the time Hades was able to communicate with Juliet telepathically, she had already thrown Ala's head back to Nav.

" _Oh Juliet, dear, what bad things was she saying?"_

"Nothing important. She tells tall tales." Juliet said simply. "I'm going to check on the others. I can't believe I made a pointless enemy out of her…"

The person who reacted the fastest when it came to checking on those held captive by Ala was Aldra herself seeing her husband on the ground.

"DARLING!" She cried as she made a mad dash to her husband. Belphe and Dogor only followed her after complaining about how they would need to act like innocent dolls if they didn't want to die.

Pit hesitated to aid Shulk. On one hand, he wouldn't care if the blond didn't last inside Ala. On the other hand…he was a Smasher…and after the events of that one timeline, he ended up being one of his most trusted allies.

Shulk had gotten a lot of that creamy substance in his mouth that he desperately tried to spit out. Maybe he shouldn't have opened his mouth so much when he was shielding everyone inside of Ala's belly. This was not the first time he was eaten by a dragon in the past timelines, so he thought that he would do better. Then again, that one timeline wasn't so nice to him if the dragon ejected him from the rear instead of exploding like this time.

"Does that stuff even taste good?" Was the first thing Pit asked him as he extended his hand out to Shulk.

"Ha ha…very funny Pit…" The Monado boy growled as he refused to accept his hand at the moment. He was mainly upset with how Alvis was too busy snickering in the back of his mind.  _Alvis, shut up._

" _My apologies Shulk. Your reaction is too much."_

As Pit, helped him up, he glanced around for any other familiar faces besides Magnus and Dunban. Aldra was already next to her husband, embracing him like a teddy bear and sobbing into his chest seeing how he was awake and okay.

"…How long has he been in Ala's stomach?" Pit questioned out loud. "No normal human should have lasted that long."

"Maybe a week…he's strong though."

"Well…he is a giant…anyways…" Pit failed to look at Shulk in the eyes as he continued speaking. "Thanks for saving Airi…I guess you'll be nice to my girlfriend even if you hate me."

Shulk rolled his eyes as a response. "She's not even your girlfriend. You already have someone Pit. I simply helped a friend in need."

Again with the daily reminder that Pit was stuck to one person due to the red string of fate that transcended all timelines…

"Tch…"

Airi cursed up a storm for failing to dodge the explosion. It blew off her clothes and she too was covered in that goo. Frantically she used her powers to put her clothes back on, but she had already overexerted herself therefore the only thing she could do is put her bra and panties back into place and deal with not having a maid outfit to cover her.

The attention was to Magnus and Dunban particularly Dunban who they all came to save. He was paler than ever despite no longer being attached to the Slavic Realm. The older male shook his companion constantly begging him to wake up.

"Now would be a good time to bring his body here." Juliet told Palutena who immediately transported Dunban's Homs' body over to Shulk.

The soul in Magnus' arms immediately vanished so it could go back to the original body. The process was swift with the color that Dunban had lost in his original body return to its normal darker shade. A soul outside of its body for more than four hours was really pushing it. If Dunban was not a Homs, he might not have survived even if they saved his soul. Palutena might have resorted to placing him in an inanimate object if pushed came to shove (or better yet, just ask the Golden Land to fix it).

"Dunban!" Shulk cried out seeing his father figure slowly open his eyes. "Dunban!"

"Guhh…"

As the older Homs slowly opened his eyes, he was immediately met with a bear hug from the seer. Riki too was rather quick to rush over and tackle him immediately waking him up.

"Shulk…Riki…I was…"

"You're safe…thank god…"

"Shulk…did you already thank…" Dunban's voice trailed off mainly due to Riki interrupting him.

"Dundun is safe! The Heropon has saved the day again!"

Both Homs couldn't help but smile at Riki's enthusiasm.

"Riki…" Dunban murmured before looking over to Magnus who had an unreadable expression. "…Magnus?"

Magnus was currently at a loss of words, so Shulk ended up speaking before him.

"Dunban, why were you thinking of giving up?" Shulk questioned unaware that he probably a little angry with his father figure. "The Dunban I know would not have allowed himself to be caught so easily!"

"I was caught off guard…and I was about to sleep…"

"That's a lie and you know it Dunban! You gave up on yourself! That contract…you never told us about it…you just…accepted that you would never fulfill the end requirement…"

 _That's because I never believed that I would fall in love Shulk._  Dunban thought bitterly to himself.  _If you knew what had happened to me in the past…you might understand better that I was incapable of forming those relationships…and Ala banked on it…but now…_

"You have friends and family Dunban!" Shulk reminded him followed by a huge exaggerated sigh when he finally pulled away from him. "If something is wrong, you have to come to us. Everyone has told me that back in Bionis. I just wish you of all people would follow your advice."

"Shulk…"

"And Dundun has Magna to confide in too!" Riki added happily causing Dunban's eyes to widen in horror. "You talk to Magna like Magna talks to Dundun!"

That suffocating atmosphere that Magnus and Dunban had in the past had returned. The samurai had no idea why Magnus was glaring at him now. Shulk felt that now was a good idea to move out of the way and let Magnus talk some sense into the raven haired Homs.

"M-Magnus…"

No one said anything when Magnus decided that instead of just telling him what was on his mind, he showed it by yanking him off the ground like a little kid causing him to yelp at the sudden motion. The older male continued to glare at him even as he lowered him down enough to where he could easily lock lips with him.

Pit's jaw nearly dropped not realizing that these two had been very close in other timelines (heck, in one timeline, it was the reason for the angel captain's breakdown in the first place). Shulk who also should have known this held his hand over his face attempting to hide the blush not use to a scene like this. Airi shared the same expression as Pit before looking away making a disgruntled noise. Juliet remained stoic despite being the Guardian of Love. Only Riki was cheering for the love he was witnessing in front of him. Palutena and Hades were surprisingly quiet (not to mention Daedalus who was probably on the verge of passing out or simply did not care about the public display of affection in front of him).

" _Well, isn't that sweet?"_  Hades asked breaking the sexual tension in the Slavic human world immediately.  _"I could watch this all day."_

 _"Hades…"_  Palutena began but realized it was pointless to talk any sense into her uncle.  _"I think…we should probably get ready to send everyone back here."_

" _Oh yes, of course. I take Juliet and all the lovely demons back! Oh, and the souls!"_

"Hades…" Juliet spoke in a dark, serious tone. "If these souls are not from your realm, then it is your job to give them back to the original owner. This is if the original body is not lost. Otherwise, it will be an abuse of power."

Daedalus and Palutena could be heard saying, "Oooooh" to Hades who growled at being reminded that he actually had to do his job now if he wanted to remain in a relationship with someone as strict as Juliet.

_"Fiiiiiiiiinnnne. Meanie…"_

Hades was in charge of taking Juliet, Airi, Aldra, her husband, Belphe, Dogor and the souls that did not belong to the Slavic Realm. The irony was how all the souls that have yet to be digested were indeed not of the Slavic human world therefore he had a lot of work cut out for him. Juliet had gathered them all in one place so it would be easy for Hades to take everyone at once.

" _Days…when you are done recovering, you and Pandora are going to be the one to take the souls back."_

" _ **Tch…that should be Thanatos' job…not me…or Pandora."**_

In the meantime, Palutena had ordered Pit to gather up Shulk, Riki, Dunban and Magnus so they can all be brought back to the Smash Brothers Realm rather than be teleported to the Underworld. Hades' transporter circle was purple so it was obvious to know which went where. Palutena had a white one in the middle after Hades had taken his mostly female group back to him.

"Hopefully Airi will take Aldra and her husband back home."

"Don't worry, I trust Airi to do that." Pit said with a smirk. "Of course, I'll make sure Pittoo goes with her so she doesn't get kinky with them. Now let's go before those two start making love here."

What an odd way of putting it. Magnus had pulled away at that point whispering to Dunban's ear the same thing Shulk told him. He should never give up hope and to never give up on him. Dunban must have heard that in the past, but something told him that didn't work hence why he had little hope now. The older Homs only nodded his head though as he allowed Magnus to carry him even though Dunban insisted on walking to the white circle by himself.

Once everyone gathered, Palutena used her magic to teleport everyone back to Smash Brothers Realm where everyone was waiting in anticipation.

* * *

A week had passed since the startling incident. Things have mostly settled down, but Palutena was putting both angels to work to make sure that nothing escaped from the Slavic Realm. Hades did his part as well to ensure that nothing came from Nav either as he did not want to deal with Ala or anyone else in that realm after the incident (even if he barely lifted a finger).

When everyone returned, Palutena had allowed the healing division of the royal bodyguards to come down and heal the injured (specifically on Pit and Dunban's end. Despite what he had gone through, Shulk was untouched minus the whole liquid covering most of his body and Magnus was a tough cookie, so Riki's healing ability was enough.) Airi simply needed souls and disappeared the minute she was back in her familiar realm. Juliet was the same going back to her mother. Hades had a nagging feeling Ceres was going to flip her shit at him and sure enough, for the next week they had been fighting each other. Daedalus and Medusa just wanted some peace and quiet, but now that Pandora came back after her solo training session, things would be easier even if she and Daedalus were forced to guide all of those souls back to where they belong.

Dark Pit along with Airi escorted Aldra back to her realm with her husband. Palutena made sure that he was a good guide to them. Since Pittoo's division was about bridging the gap between angels and demons, helping a half-demon back home with her human companion would be a snap for the dark angel. The green haired Goddess made a mental note to warn Pittoo next time not to be so cheery. Those two dolls that belonged to Aldra were taken back too. Belphe and Dogor were obviously pissed that they wouldn't be able to eat delicious souls or flesh. They murmured how they would get their chance next time. The fact Pittoo found them adorable really didn't help matters. Airi was the one that had to warn them that if they tried anything funny, she would sick the prince she worked for on them.

Pit needed a break from that mission and Palutena was going to give it to him. Shulk was allowed to relax from Smash matches too and could spend his time with Rob. Riki went back to playing with the Lumas. Dunban was left alone in the infirmary, and this time, the real Magnus came in and promised him the date when he got out. He said it so bluntly that it was difficult not to laugh.

Magnus had that entire week to plan the date out, so his rival would be satisfied before he died (not like he wanted him to die of course. He just wanted to fulfill one of the tasks he desired to do before he died). Pit rolled his eyes when he was asking him of all people where to take Dunban. He was directed to the ladies and then got some stupid ideas. Asking Chrom was the last person on his mind, so he just ended up asking Olimar who had a family, so he probably went through this situation before.

He got sent to the Villagers…Smashers he would rather avoid due to their creepiness when in a group. K was surprisingly lenient on what he should do. All he said was give Dunban bugs as a present. It sounded stupid and would give others the creepy crawlies, but Dunban told him in the past that he loved insects, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to spend the day just bug hunting but…

"Tortimer's Island." K said simply. "Now go."

So once the week ended and Dunban was back on his feet, Magnus was ready for that date. The samurai in comparison had no time to prepare, but did not think too much of what to expect from someone like Magnus. Casual attire was not Magnus' thing even when he was taking him out.

The feeling of completeness was there though. Just taking a day off from Smash Brothers Mansion and going around Smashopolis doing normal things according to this world. If Dunban were to date anyone, he would take them hiking or sightseeing or something that involved danger. Magnus was the exact same way, but he wanted to demonstrate a more caring side of him that Pit had warmed him multiple times that he scared people off because of how he acted.

It was good that no one judged you in Smashopolis based on gender or sexuality (race on the other hand)… They could openly hold hands in public and no one would bat an eye. Both were too prideful to even do that although Dunban did lean against Magnus' large arms. Magnus responded by pulling Dunban closer.

When the two were alone, it was usually Dunban who did most of the talking about Bionis, Fiora, Shulk and just the small things when it came to battle. Magnus kept to himself even now about his past while the samurai opened up over time the more he trusted Magnus. There was still a chain around Magnus' heart that he didn't want to unlock. Dunban knew it concerned Rita though seeing as how that child is now an angel from a mistake he made, but he wondered what exactly happened for Magnus' son to end this way.

As they headed toward Smash Harbor to get on the boat to Smashville, Magnus made sure everything was ready. He had the impression that he and Dunban would be alone on the island therefore he could have some fun when things were said and done. In the back of Magnus' mind, he should just pop the question, but he didn't want to rush anything. They haven't even…

Magnus stopped himself from thinking about the end result and to focus on the moment at hand. More than thinking about sex, he enjoyed Dunban's presence. The younger male felt like his equal. Something he didn't just hand to anyone easily. Gaol was his biggest rival and she still was. They worked together though, but Gaol took care of the mercenary group while he was in Smash Brothers Realm. Pit was an equal too, but this definition was spread more thinly. With Dunban, everything just felt balanced and he felt complete. His heart couldn't stop beating around him and he just wanted to work up the courage to hold his small hands.

The boat trip was rather fast. Then again, they didn't have to listen to that stupid Kappa singing. The ship in Smash Harbor took them straight to the island without the need to stop in Smashville.

The two had spent almost the whole day in Smashopolis, that only when they saw the sunset did they realize that the day was almost over.

"…Time flies fast…doesn't it?" Dunban asked as he wanted to take a walk on the beach.

"Yeah…"

Magnus glanced around the island. There was no one in plain sight to disturb the couple. He gazed toward his partner whose bright smile remained on his lips. Ever since the incident, Dunban had been smiling more often. Maybe the revelation that his life was spared because of love enlightened him, or maybe he was just glad to have been taken to a serene location for his first real date with the older male.

"Hey, don't exert yourself." Magnus warned him noticing that Dunban wobbled just slightly when he took a wrong step. "You'll end up making a sand angel."

"Wouldn't you like that?"

"Perhaps. I can bury you in the sand and pat your butt in the process."

"There's no need to use the sand as an excuse for that."

Dunban was getting bolder with his comments now too. Magnus never figured it out that the younger male had dropped hints a few times in the past. Now that the two were technically together, he could make all the lewd comments he wanted.

"Let's rest for a second." Magnus told him as he plopped down on the hot sand. "Come sit with me."

"I still wanted to walk around." Dunban complained but had no problem sitting next to him. "But gazing at the ocean is nice too."

Why wouldn't it be? The scenery before them was gorgeous. If they stayed here all night, they would start to see the moon rise from the ocean and the stars shimmering in the sky as if Rosalina was shining them down on the newly couple.

"I never really had a view like this in Bionis." Dunban commented. "On Bionis' leg, we weren't near the ocean. We had traveled through Eryth Sea, but it was nothing compared to something as simple as this…even if Shulk changed Bionis so we can get a beautiful ocean…I like peaceful sceneries too."

Now did the couple have the guts to intertwine their fingers on the beach. Magnus only nodded his head a response acknowledging Dunban's words. Besides the wind blowing against the leaves and ocean, and a few insects such as the migratory locust making too many buzzing noises, the only sounds that mattered were the rapid beating of their hearts and their steady breathing.

Magnus could simply tell Dunban that he loved him right there and the war veteran would not have minded a bit. He waited for the opportunity though. Dunban felt the mercenary tense up and turned to the older male with concern.

"Magnus?"

"Hmm?"

"…We should bring Rita next time."

"The kid wouldn't want to mess with our honeymoon."

"I think the correct term is date. That's thinking way into the future…" Dunban frowned at the thought. He had no hope of living that long. Dunban just wanted to live enough to experience love, and he got that. Asking for the next step was too much for a sucker like him.

Speaking of sucker…

"Hey, I wanted to give you this. It was hard to come by, so be grateful!"

Dunban was confused at what he was talking about until Magnus pulled out a small jar that was attached to his waist the entire time (How he did he miss that? He was most likely distracted by the older male's abs) that contained a golden stag beetle. From the distinct color, Dunban already knew that it was a rare specimen found on this island but…

"Why do I have a feeling you bought the insect from those kids instead of catching them here?"

"You must be imagining things!"

"That explains why you didn't spend that much money on this date either."

"My poor wallet…"

This fact did not stop Dunban from accepting the gift. He would make sure to take care of it. He also had to be on the lookout for those Villager children who would charge big money for something that someone in the mansion wanted and then steal the item the minute that person let the guard down. Those kids claimed to have hated Crazy Redd, but they were worse than that fox.

"Today is a bug." Magnus told him firmly before looking his partner in the eye and snatching a kiss from him unexpectedly. A surprised gasp could be heard, but the gray haired Homs had no problem returning the kiss passionately, wrapping his arms around the older male's neck in an attempt to seize control of the make out session. Magnus proved to good though, and Dunban broke apart before he got sucked in completely. "The future will be a ring."

"…What?"

Well, if Magnus was known for being blunt, then he might as well say it.

"You heard me. Right now, we might just be dating…but if things continue like this…I don't think I'll ever want to let you go. You're a good catch."

Such bad wording, but Dunban knew what he meant and played along.

"What if I wanted to be caught in your trap? Not much of a challenge there."

"Nah, you're not the type to submit too easily…or are you?"

The mercenary slowly reached out toward Dunban's hair and began rubbing his fingers through it. His hair was so soft…and it had a wonderful fragrance. Why would Dunban put that in his hair when he hated flowers and fruits? Was he swallowing his pride this one time and give off a scent that allured the older male even more.

"Of course not. I'm a stubborn fool."

"A stubborn old fool."

"Younger than you!"

"Hey! Don't get too riled up. I don't want to damage your beautiful hair."

He went from stroking his hair to tracing his hands toward his cheek. Dunban unconsciously leaned into the touch with a content smile on his face.

"…Hopefully you'll be prepared when I have the ring for you. I wouldn't want you to act like those women who break down in tears at something they should expect."

"No…I wouldn't. Why wouldn't I be prepared? You're giving me everything I could ever ask for."

"Hmm?"

"…You gave my life back when I thought I lost it back in that Underworld. You gave me hope that I was capable of being loved…you gave me hope that I could…fall in love…" Dunban's cheeks were bright red as the darkest part of the sunset at this point, but the sun was almost gone and replaced with darker shades of blue. "For all my life…I really thought there was…no hope for me, but then you show up and now I…"

Magnus cut him off with another kiss. Dunban didn't mind again. He didn't want to get anymore emotional than he already had. He was rather surprised that the mercenary pushed him down on the sand.

"You don't have to say anymore. I know what you will say."

"…And I know what you want to do…pervert…there is a child on this island."

"She won't come out." Magnus reassured him giving him a small bite on his neck. He enjoyed the small moan he got as a response. "But I sure as hell want to go right in."

The younger male chuckled at Magnus' bold innuendo.

"Then come at me. The night is young and my body is not going to do that by itself!"

Juliet was right when she said there was a powerful love between the two. The couple had what it took to defy a contract. This was the Power of Love, and the Power of Love was going to extend to more than just sex on the beach…oh…if only they knew the troubles to come from this magical night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Done with 16342 words. Notes!
> 
> 1\. I never specified what Ceres' job was so I basically decided she along with Eros and Juliet would decide who could fall in love and what relationship would not work out. The red strings of fate are used that can only be seen by them and if the red string is like a handcuff, it is impossible to cut the string. If the string is loose then it is very easy to cut it off and prevent any romance between those characters from ever happening in another timeline much less end up happy. Pit for example has a red string bounded to Laharl. This is why Pit almost never has the same person in each timeline. If he and Laharl are destined to be together, then there is no hope for love with other characters hence why Pit reacts so negatively to the concept of marrying Laharl especially post Mecha Galaxy. Dunban and Magnus surprisingly developed a red string like a handcuff and that might be contributed to some of the previous timelines in the past. Dark Pit though has a loose red string attached to multiple people implying he could end up with any of them or if he's lucky, end up in a harem ending. The red string technically is attached to Lucina, Reyn and my OC Isaak (and there are more). The string that Pit and Dark Pit have is white showing how inseparable the two are that can be partnership, friendship, brotherhood and love all in one. A few others have it too but it applies mainly to those who act like siblings and those with a strong bond such as my OCs Virtue and Jingle who are partners in crime (not really).
> 
> 2\. "Without love, the truth cannot be seen" is a quote taken from Umineko. I love that line and "Because of love, you see things that aren't even there" because they're both relevant and sound philosophical.
> 
> 3\. Unholy Poses is from Queen's Blade and is similar to Holy Poses that angels use. Because Daedalus is a fallen angel, he would use this and the Evil Poses. The difference between Evil and Unholy is Evil is used for corrupting people and every Evil Pose has a counterpart to the Holy Pose (but unfortunately we only see Nanael perform three of them). The Swamp Witch only uses Unholy Poses. The description being that demons from the Netherworld manifest their power to create these unique poses. Unholy Poses are based on the desire to defy God rather than wanting the ability to corrupt and turn on the person. Because Daedalus is a virgin (or the timeline resets every time meaning his virginity is reset) combined with his awkwardness with handling sexual situations, the poses aren't as effective or at least the Unholy ones due to him working under Hades who is a God…that and of course not wanting to spread his legs out to him or putting himself in between Hades' dick…
> 
> With that said, Unholy Pose: Control is like the name implies is about controlling the willpower of the opponent and force them into submission. Daedalus is not that powerful with mind-control and since Ala is the hypno queen, he can't hold her in the cage that long. To do the pose, you need to crouch, spread your legs and rest your hand on one of the knees. The power comes from the fingertips of the user, so in Daedalus' case, it would come from his most dominant hand.
> 
> The other two Unholy Poses include Unholy Pose: Corruption and Unholy Pose: Pain. Unholy Pose: Despair exists but is not suited for this situation (and the fact Daedalus is not a woman with huge boobs for it to be that effective). Corruption weakens the opponent physically and Pain attacks the opponent's mental strength thus corrupting them and increasing the physical pain if Corruption is used before it.
> 
> 4\. I'm implying that Daedalus never really got over his issues with Diamond in Super Smash Galaxy series and before that. Piano Man is the first timeline where Diamond legit rapes him and then mocks him about how his virginity is reset in every timeline allowing the excuse for Daedalus to keep it afterward. Clockwork Galaxy has Daedalus abuse it in favor of distracting Diamond, but later galaxies have Diamond abuse this to no end in hopes of breaking him. Suffice to say, it mostly worked given his inability to want to be in any sexual situation despite his love and desire for Pandora. Daedalus and Juliet are the only ones who Hades shows a soft side too, so Hades in his weird attempt at trying to counsel him causes these awkward situations. Its supposed to show that Hades is known for caring only for himself so trying to comfort one of the people he actually cares for is shown to be incredibly difficult.
> 
> 5\. Aldra's husband is actually very tall…a whopping 227 cm or 7'4 feet and I'm certain that's taller than Magus' height. The OVA episode though makes it to where he's 5'10 because Aldra's husband is supposed to be the male audience and 7'4 feet gives Aldra's husband a more distinct feature.


End file.
